EXCHANGE 
OCT   2    1913 


UC-NRLF 


B    M    0M3    3fll 

THE 


.ATIONS  OF  LATIN  AND  ENGLISH 
DURING  THE  AGE  OF  MILTON. 


WELDON  T.  MYERS. 


RUEBUSH-ELK.1NS  CO. 

PRINTERS 

DAYTON.  VIRGINIA 


Si;  M 


THE  RELATIONS 

OF  LATIN  AND  ENGLISH  AS  LIVING 

LANGUAGES  IN  ENGLAND  DURING 

THE  AGE  OF  MILTON 


A  Dissertation 

accepted  by  the  Faculty  of  the  University  of 
Virginia  as  fulfilling  the  requirements  in  orig- 
inal research  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy. 


By  WELDON  T.  MYERS.  M.  A.,  Ph.  D.. 

Adjunct  Professor  of  English  Literature  in  the  University  of  Virginia. 


Omnes  trahimur  et  ducimur  ad  cognitionis 
et  scientiae  cupiditatem,  in  qua  excellere 
pulchmm  putamus;  labi  autem,  errare, 
nescire,  decipi,  et  malum  et  turpe  ducimus. 

CICERO,   De  Officiis,   1,  6. 


PREFACE 


The  research  for  this  dissertation  was  begun  and  carried 
»n  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Charles  W.  Kent,  of  the  Linden 
Kent  Memorial  School  of  English  Literature  in  the  University 
•f  Virginia.  A  graduate  course  in  Seventeenth  Century 
English  Prose  brought  up  the  question  of  classical  influences. 
Frequent  general  reference,  in  literature  and  criticism,  to 
the  action  of  Latin  on  English  prose  style,  led  to  the  inquiry 
for  a  detailed  and  specific  treatise  on  the  subject.  No  such 
treatise  was  found;  in  fact,  the  entire  subject  of  the  direct 
and  powerful  activity  of  Latin  in  England  appeared  to  have 
been  treated  only  in  general  terms.  The  present  work  is  an 
effort  to  discuss  in  detail  one  aspect  of  that  subject. 


CONTENTS 


Introduction. 

Section  I: 

Chapter  I: 
Chapter  II 


Page 

7 


Latin  in  the  Schools  and  Universities.  13 

Latin   in  the  Schools      ...  13 

Latin  in  the  University  Curricula 

and  University  Administration  25 

Extra-curriculum  Uses  of  Latin     .  40 

Latin  as  an  International  Language.  53 

Latin  in  Official  Correspondence     .  53 

Latin  in  Private  Correspondence     .  65 

Publications  in  Latin      ...  71 

Latin  as  a  Substitute  for  English.  105 

Epistolary  Latin         .         .          .  105 
Chapter  VIII:    Latin  Prose         .        .         .         .117 

Chapter  IX:        Latin  Poetry          ...  123 

Chapter  X:         Diffusion  of  Latin        .        .        .  140 

Conclusion:         Summary 162 

Bibliography 165 


Chapter  III: 

Section  II: 

Chapter  IV: 
Chapter  V: 
Chapter  VI: 

Section  III: 

Chapter  VII: 


THE  RELATIONS  OF  LATIN  AND  ENGLISH  AS 
LIVING  LANGUAGES  IN  ENGLAND   DUR- 
ING THE  AGE  OF  MILTON. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The  more  one  inquires  into  the  literature  and  life  of  Eng- 
land from  1600  to  1660,  the  more  he  grows  to  recognize  two 
paramount  subjects  exercising  the  thought  of  EngHshmen  of 
that  day.  The  first  had  to  do  with  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
concerns,  the  second  with  classical  learning.  These  two 
supreme  considerations  are  encountered  in  the  education,  in 
the  literature,  and  in  the  politics  of  the  times.  Their  prom- 
inence is  exemplified  in  the  life  and  career  of  many  men;  of 
John  Milton,  for  instance,  who  spent  thirty  years  becoming  a 
scholar,  and  then  turning  to  politics  and  controversy  lent  his 
great  scholarship  toward  the  reform  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment. Thomas  Hobbes,  the  philosopher,  pursued  somewhat 
the  same  course,  first  devoting  himself  to  a  long  series  of 
reading  in  the  classics  and  to  the  mastery  of  a  Latin  style, 
and  then  turning  to  political  philosophy  and  laying  down  the 
principles  of  a  Christian  commonwealth.  King  James  I 
exhibited  the  twofold  interest  of  the  times  at  every  juncture; 
his  speeches  and  writings,  if  they  contained  nothing  else,  had 
at  least  the  ornament  of  classical  and  scriptural  quotation. 
Latin  and  the  Bible,  school  and  church,  learning  and  contro- 
versy— these  twin  ideas  move  conspicuously  in  every  scene 
which  occupied  the  attention  of  Englishmen  during  the  age 
of  Milton. 
The  interest  of  our  present  study  is  with  only  one  of  these 

—7— 


ideas,  that  is,  classical  learning,  which  in  its  full  scope  may  be 
considered  under  three  aspects. 

First,  the  production  of  great  humanistic  scholars.  The 
study  of  books  was  pursued  to  an  extent  almost  incredible  at 
the  present  day.  There  raged  a  national  epidemic  of  scholar- 
ship under  the  influence  of  the  narrow  humanism  which  set 
up  classical  learning  as  an  end  worthy  and  glorious  in  itsfelf. 
Boys  at  six  or  seven  began  the  study  of  Latin  and  continued 
until  Latin  epitaphs  were  engraved  on  their  tombs. 

In  any  contemporary  biographical  account,  however  brief, 
at  least  one  statement,  for  praise  or  blame,  had  reference  to 
the  plenitude  or  deficiency  of  a  man's  proper  learning.  In 
Wood's  Annals  of  Oxford,  in  which  he  wrote  sketches  of  hun- 
dreds of  University  scholars,  the  one  almost  universal  matter 
of  comment  had  to  do  with  classical  attainments.  It  is  not 
the  question  to  what  use  the  attainments  were  put,  or 
what  s'ervice  they  performed:  their  mere  possession  is  adver- 
tised as  a  high  accomplishment  and  the  crown  of  a  successful 
life. 

Second,  the  employment  of  Latin  in  practical  living  inter- 
course. It  was  not  at  that  time  altogether  a  dead  language, 
whose  last  word  had  been  uttered  and  stereotyped  in  old 
Roman  books;  but  it  retained  a  vital  power  for  daily  work, 
and  along  with  the  humble  and  unlearned  vernacular  was  still 
an  instrument  of  civilization. 

Third,  the  influence  of  classical  scholarship  and  Latin 
prose  style  on  the  syntax  and  style  of  English  prose.  The 
contact  of  the  two  languages  in  the  schools,  in  the  study  and 
the  writings  of  literary  men,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  prac- 
tical affairs  of  church  and  state,  produced  on  the  side  of  the 
English  certain  reactions  traceable  in  the  poetry  but  more 
manifest  in  the  prose.  These  marks  were  fortunately  not 
inherited  in  the  prose  of  succeeding  generations,  since  our 
language  later  asserted  its  own  native  genius  and  outgrew 
the  severe  impositions  of  a  powerful  foreign  tongue.  But  in 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  by  no  means 
certain,  nor  unanimously  desirable,  that  those  unnatural 
influences  should  pass  away.     Some  of  the  most  important 

-8— 


prose  writers  strove  deliberately  to  improve  and  upbuild  the 
inferior  English  by  introducing  from  the  admired  and  mas- 
terly Latin  the  long,  eloquent,  comprehensive  sentence,  the 
involved  subordination  of  clauses,  the  inverted  and  emphatic 
word-order,  the  introductory  and  demonstrative  use  of  the 
relative  pronoun,  and,  finally,  an  excessive  elaboration  of  dic- 
tion, a  quaintness,  "that  curiosa  felicitas  which  we  admire  in 
certain  Latin  writers  both  of  prose  and  verse,  such  as  Sallust 
Virgil,  Tacitus,  but  which  our  barbarian  speech  never  took 
kindly  to.'" 

These  three  aspects  of  high  classical  scholarship, — vast 
learning,  the  practical  use  of  Latin,  and  English  prose  re- 
action,— though  closely  interrelated,  may  easily  be  separated 
and  detached  for  particular  investigation.  But  with  respect 
to  the  last,  that  is,  the  reactions  of  English  prose  style  in 
contact  with  the  Latin  language  and  literature,  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  other  two  features  naturally  precedes  and  pre- 
pares the  way.-  In  other  words,  to  appreciate  the  formal  ef- 
fects wrought  on  English  it  is  necessary  first  to  comprehend 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  causes  on  the  side  of  an  intensive 
Latin  scholarship  and  a  wide-spread  employment  of  Latin  as 
a  Hving  tongue. 

The  original  intention  of  this  treatise  was  to  make  the 
approach  from  the  English  side  and  to  examine  the  stylistic 
effects  of  the  one  language  upon  the  other  as  recorded  in  the 
English  prose  literature  of  the  seventeenth  century.  As  in- 
vestigation proceeded,  questions  constantly  arose  with  refer- 
ence to  the  actual  status  of  the  foreign  tongue  in  England: 
Inf  what  esteem  was  Latin  held  in  comparison  with  English? 
To  what  extent  did  the  composition  of  prose  and  poetry  con- 
tinue in  a  scholar's  habits  after  withdrawal  from  the  Uni- 
versity? When  the  two  languages  came  together  in  living 
rivalry,  bidding  for  choice  in  a  piece  of  writing,  what  consid- 
erations favored  the  selection  of  the  one  or  the  other  by  the 
writer?  Was  the  tongue  of  Cicero  regarded  as  inherently  a 
finer  and  more  powerful  instrument  of  expression  than  the 
language  of  Shakespeare? 

1  Earle,  English  Prose,  pp.  451-2. 

-9— 


To  give  satisfactory  answer  to  these  and  similar  ques- 
tions, it  seemed  first  necessary  to  understand,  in  as  thorough 
and  far-reaching  a  manner  as  possible,  the  relations  existing 
between  Latin  and  English  as  languages  living  and  working 
side  by  side  during  that  age  of  profound  classical  scholarship 
and  relentless  classical  fashion.  The  investigation  turned, 
therefore,  from  the  standpoint  of  English,  from  the  question 
of  eif  ects,  to  the  side  of  Latin,  the  question  of  influences,  and 
to  the  examination,  in  all  directions,  of  the  uses  of  the  ancient 
tongue  in  England  during  this  period,  and  of  its  relations  to 
contemporaneous  English. 

Latin,  then,  as  a  living  and  literary  tongue  alongside  of 
English  during  the  supreme  classical  age  of  Milton  is  the  sub- 
ject of  this  treatise.  An  effort  has  been  made  to  comprehend 
all  the  active  uses  of  the  older  language  in  written  and  spoken 
discourse,  in  prose  and  verse,  in  England,  and  by  Englishmen; 
to  present  all  the  activities  wherein  Latin  stood  aloof  from 
and  independent  of  English,  and  all  wherein  the  two  tongues 
came  into  mutual  contact  as  rivals,  as  co-workers,  or  as  sub- 
ordinate the  one  to  the  other. 

In  presenting  the  Latinity  of  the  whole  period,  the  ex- 
ample of  Milton  as  a  user  of  Latin  has  been  called  to  witness 
wherever  a  record  or  evidence  of  such  use  appears.  A  thor- 
ough investigation  of  his  life  and  literary  work  has  been  made 
for  this  purpose,  and  his  name  finds  a  place  in  nearly  all  the 
divisions  of  Latin  writing  in  his  time.  He  has  helped  to 
illuminate  the  whole  work,  and  his  classical  character  has 
been  itself  illustrated  in  the  light  of  that  humanistic  age. 

The  age  of  Milton  was  selected  because  it  marked  the 
culmination  of  classical  scholarship  and  produced  a  prose  lit- 
erature most  profoundly  affected  by  Latin  models.  It  is 
moreover  a  period  of  definite  limits,  which  promise  some  de- 
gree of  unity  to  historic  inquiries.  In  a  strict  sense  the  liter- 
ary age  of  Milton  is  usually  understood  as  extending  from 
1625,  about  the  close  of  the  Elizabethan  age,  to  1660,  the  year 
of  the  restoration,  the  beginning  of  French  influence,  and  the 
decisive  change  not  only  in  things  political  and  literary,  but 

—10- 


in  nearly  all  the  forces  that  affected  the  life  of  the  English 
people.  In  a  broader  sense  the  age  of  Milton  may  be  taken 
as  coinciding  with  the  years  of  the  poet's  life,  from  1608  to 
1674.  In  this  work  no  rigid  line  has  been  drawn  for  the  be- 
ginning of  the  period,  but  the  year  1615,  about  the  time  when 
Milton's  classical  education  began,  has  been  generally  ob- 
served as  the  first  limit  of  investigation.  The  year  1660, 
marking  so  positive  a  national  epoch,  has  been  pretty  faith- 
fully respected  as  the  other  limit  of  inquiry. 

The  treatment  has  fallen  into  three  main  divisions  as 
follows: 

Section  I.  Latin  in  the  Schools  and  Universities.  This 
division  presents  the  classical  curricula  and  the  vari- 
ous extra-curriculum  activities  which  Latin  performed 
in  academic  life.  The  schools  cherished  an  intense 
and  narrow  humanism;  for  long  years  they  brought 
classical  language  and  ideas  to  bear  on  the  mind  of  a 
youth,  and  finally  sent  him  forth  into  the  world  with 
an  equipment  consisting  largely  of  an  ability  to  read, 
think,  and  v^^ite  in  the  language  of  Cicero,  and  to 
quote  from  the  ancient  authors  passages  to  suit  every 
possible  occasion.  The  employment  of  Latin  in  the 
fashion  and  business  of  the  world  rose  out  of  a  thor- 
ough-going and  long-continued  academic  training. 

Section  1 1.  Latin  as  an  International  Language.  It  was 
the  medium  of  intercourse  between  England  and  the 
continental  courts,  and  also  between  individual  Eng- 
lishmen and  foreigners,  Latin  being  in  many  cases 
the  only  common  speech.  Moreover,  literary  pro- 
ductions by  EngHshmen  who  sought  a  foreign  audi- 
ence, to  instruct  them  or  to  be  honored  by  them, 
were  put  in  the  learned  tongue.  In  this  use  Latin 
stood  aloof  from  English,  independent  and  alone,  oc- 
cupying a  field  to  which  the  vernacular  never  made 
any  claim  or  pretense. 

Section  III.  Latin  as  a  Substitute  for  English.  Consid. 
erations  of  dignity,  learning,  decorum,  and  compli- 

—11- 


ment  determined  the  choice  of  the  ancient  and  foreign 
tongue  in  cases  where  the  native  speech  should  have 
been  more  natural  and  effective.  The  classical 
fashion  of  the  age  imposed  certain  burdens  which 
the  boldest  and  most  independent  never  thought  of 
shifting.  In  this  division  the  classical  atmosphere 
and  the  various  pervasive  influences  are  taken  into 
consideration. 


SECTION  I. 

LATIN  IN  THE  SCHOOLS  AND  UNIVERSITIES. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Latin  in  the  Schools. 

The  early  age  at  which  the  severe  and  thorough  study  of 
Latin  began  for  the  seventeenth  century  EngHsh  boy  serves 
to  suggest  what  estimate  the  time  put  on  its  value  for  the 
mature  man.  The  grammar  schools,  which  were  so  named 
because  Latin  was  taught  therein,'  admitted  pupils  from  eight 
to  twelve  years  of  age,  and  it  was  the  custom  to  require  some 
knowledge  of  Latin  grammar  from  all  pupils  who  were  ad- 
mitted.- This  requirement  threw  the  study  of  the  ancient 
language  back  upon  the  years  of  very  early  childhood;  and 
since  the  hope  for  a  boy's  intellectual  career  looked  forward 
chiefly  to  the  one  great,  all-important  subject  of  the  classics, 
the  earlier  a  child  began  his  rudiments  and  the  more 
diligently  he  pursued  them,  the  surer  were  his  chances  to  attain 
distinction  in  the  schools  and  eminence  in  later  life.  It  is  not 
uncommon  in  biographical  accounts  of  seventeenth  century 
Englishmen,  who  became  great  or  were  so  esteemed  in  schol- 
arship or  literature,  to  find  record  of  very  early  interest  in 
classical  studies.  For  instance,  it  is  an  item  in  the  biography 
of  Thomas  Hobbes  (born  1588),  that  he  was  learning  Latin 
and  Greek  at  the  age  of  six,  and  made  such  rapid  advance- 
ment that  before  fourteen  he  was  able  to  translate  the  Medea 
of  Euripides  into  Latin  iambics. ^  The  future  philosopher, 
while  in  his  youth  a  tutor  to  the  Earl  of  Devonshire,  approved 
his  own  intellectual  training  by  urging  his  young  pupil  into 

1  Mark's  Educational  Theories,  p.  95. 

2  Do.,  77. 

3  Robertson's  Hobbes,  p.  4. 

—13- 


strenuous  classical  ways,  and  dictating  to  him  a  Latin  ab- 
stract of  Aristotle's  Rhetoric.  John  Evelyn,  the  diarist,  in 
speaking  of  his  earliest  education,  notices  a  sort  of  belated- 
ness  in  the  start  he  made.  Under  the  year  1624  he  writes: 
"I  was  not  initiated  into  my  rudiments  till  I  was  four  years 
of  age;"  and  later  he  observes:  "It  was  not  till  the  year 
1628"  [i.  e.  till  his  eighth  year]  "that  I  was  put  to  learn  my 
Latin  rudiments,  and  to  write  of  one  Citolin,  a  Frenchman, 
in  Lewes."'  The  boy  of  whom  any  special  expectation  was 
entertained  in  the  way  of  learning  had  to  start  his  Latin  al- 
most in  infancy, — to  lisp  in  Latin,  like  a  young  Roman  of  the 
ancient  republic. 

With  this  early  progress  in  classical  paths,  and  with  a 
vast  background  of  classical  tradition  for  centuries  in  English 
history,  religion  and  literature,  giving  tone  and  character  to 
the  individual  mind  from  the  first  steps  in  education,  it  was 
to  be  expected  that  marvels  of  linguistic  precocity  would 
arise.  Latin  had  been  petted  and  coddled  in  the  schools,  in 
the  law  courts,  in  the  church,  and  in  the  very  conversation  of 
men,  for  so  long  that  its  presence  and  possession  was  every- 
where, and  the  child  of  any  hope  was  born  to  that  language 
as  surely  as  to  his  own.  An  instance  of  juvenile  achievement 
in  school  is  related  with  admiration  by  Thomas  Fuller.  "I 
know  a  school-boy,"  he  says,  "not  above  twelve  years  old,  and 
utterly  ignorant  of  all  logical  terms,  who  was  commanded  to 
English  the  following  distich: 

Dat  Galenus  opes  et  Justinianics  honores. 

Cum  genus,  et  species,  cogitur  ire  pedes. 
Only  they  favored  the  boy  so  far,   that  Galenus  did  signify 
the  profession  of  physic,  Justinianusof  law;  on  which  ground 
he  thus  proceeded: 

'Galenus,  the  study  of  physic,  dat  giveth,  opes  wealth; 
Justinianus,  the  study  of  law,  dat  giveth,  honores  honours; 
cum  when,  genv^  high  birth,  et  species  and  beauty  [having  n* 
other  calling  (saith  the  boy)  to  maintain  them],  co(7i7wr  is 
compelled,  ire  pedes  to  go  on  foot.'  "- 

1  Evelyn's  Diary,  under  the  years  indicated. 
«  Fuller's  Worthies,  I,  p.  98. 

—14- 


It  was  of  course  a  matter  of  exultation  to  parents  and 
master  to  hear  such  smooth  and  perfect  scholarship  from  the 
lips  of  one  so  young.  They  must  have  showered  commenda- 
tions upon  him  and  prophecied  his  fair  distinction  in  the 
world.  We  cannot  ignore  the  value  also  of  the  moral  senti- 
ment in  the  verses:  many  a  time,  on  apt  occasion  thereafter, 
the  boy,  grown  to  manhood  and  position,  may  have  bestowed 
a  warning  precept  on  youth  or  adorned  an  argument  in  poli- 
tics or  religion,  with  quotation  of  the  long-known  elegiacs. 

When  among  any  people  a  certain  fashion  of  thought  and 
education  is  persisted  in  for  generations,  there  will  arise  not 
only  precocity  in  youth  but  also  prodigies  in  later  life.  The 
age  of  Milton  in  England  emphasized  religion  and  learning, 
and  it  was  an  era  of  preachers  and  scholars,  sects  and  con- 
troversies, fanatics  and  bookworms.  But  it  produced,  as  its 
best  fruit  .on  the  one  hand,  George  Fox,  the  first  of  the 
Quakers^  Roger  Williams,  the  advocate  of  religious  liberty,' 
Cromwell,  the  Puritan  warrior  and  statesman,  and  John  Bun- 
yan,  the  author  of  Pilgrim's  Progress;  on  the  other  hand, 
Archbishop  Usher,  author  of  the  long-accepted  Biblical 
chronology,  John  Selden,  the  rival  and  antagonist  of  Hugo 
Grotius  in  learning  and  controversy,  and  John  Milton,  the 
vanquisher  of  Claudius  Salmasius  and  author  of  Paradise  Lost. 
It  was  the  education  of  the  boy  that  made  the  man,  and  Latin 
was  the  subject  that  made  the  schools. 

Let  us  look  now  at  the  curriculum  of  the  school  which  the 
child  entered  between  eight  and  twelve  years  of  age,  after 
his  elementary  instruction  in  the  rudiments  of  Latin.  Eton 
College  may  be  taken  as  an  example.  There  is  a  detailed  ac- 
count given  of  the  studies  pursued  at  Eton  in  1560,  and  the 
only  slight  change  during  the  succeeding  generations  was 
some  additional  attention  paid  to  Greek. '  There  were  seven 
forms  in  the  school  and  the  books  studied  were  as  follows:' 

"In  the  first  form,  Cato  and  Vives. 

1  Lyte's  Eton,  p.  209. 

2  Do.,  146,  ff. 

—15- 


"In  the  second,  Terence,  Lucian's  Dialogues  (in  Latin) 
and  Aesop's  Fables  (in  Latin). 

"In  the  third,  Terence,  Aesop's  Fables  (in  Latin),  and  Se- 
lections by  Sturmius  from  Cicero's  Epistles. 

"In  the  fourth,  Terence,  Ovid's  Tristia,  and  the  Epi- 
grams of  Martial,  Catullus,  and  Sir  Thomas  More. 

"In  the  fifth,  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  Horace,  Cicero's 
Epistles,  Valerius  Maximus,  Lucius  Florus,  Justin,  and 
'Sysembrotus'. 

*  'In  the  sixth  and  seventh,  Caesar's  Commentaries,  Cicero 
de  Officiis  and  de  Amicitia,  Virgil,  Lucan,  and  the  Greek 
Grammar." 

"It  is  clear,"  says  Lyte,  "that  Latin  viras  almost  the  only 
subject  of  study  [at  Eton],  and  that  no  means  of  inculcating 
a  sound  knowledge  of  it  was  neglected.  The  lower  boys  had 
to  decline  and  conjugate  words,  and  their  seniors  had  to  re- 
peat rules  of  grammar,  for  the  illustration  of  which  short 
phrases  called  'Vulgaria'  were  composed  and  committed  to 
memory.  Some  sort  of  Latin  composition,  however  brief, 
was  a  necessary  portion  of  the  daily  work  of  every  Eton 
scholar.  In  the  lower  form  it  was  confined  to  the  literal 
translation  of  an  English  sentence  or  passage,  while  in  the 
fifth  form  it  consisted  of  a  theme  on  a  subject  set  by  the 
Master.      The    boys  in   the  sixth  and  seventh  forms  used 

to  write  verses The  Master  and  Usher  used  to  read 

aloud  and  explain  to  the  boys  the  passages  which  were  to  be 
learnt  by  heart."* 

Such  was  the  curriculum  at  Eton  in  1560,  and,  with  slight 
change,  for  the  two  centuries  following.  To  show  further 
how  the  young  mind  was  brought  up  in<en  intellectual  world 
whose  meat  and  drink  were  Latin  and  Greek,  the  following 
extended  description  is  given  of  the  seventeenth  century 
work  of  another  of  the  great  English  public  schools.  It  is  an 
account  of  studies  at  Westminster. 

"About  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  5  in  the  morning  we 
were  called  up  by  one  of  the  Monitors  of  the  chamber;  and 

I  Lyte's  Eton,  p.  146. 

-16- 


»fter  Latin  prayers  we  went  to  the  cloysters  to  wash,  and 
thence  in  order,  two  by  two,  to  the  schools,  where  we  were  to 
be  by  6  of  the  clock  at  furthest.  Between  6  and  8  we  re- 
peated our  grammar  parts  (out  of  Lilie  for  Latin,  out  of 
Cambden  for  Greek);  14  or  15  being  selected  and  called  out 
to  stand  in  a  semicircle  before  the  Mr.  and  the  scholars,  and 
there  repeat  4  or  5  leaves  in  either,  the  Mr.  appointing  who 

,  should  begin  and  who  should  go  on  with  such  and  such  rules. 
After  this  we  had  two  exercises  that  varied  every  other 
morning.  The  first  morning  we  made  verses  extempore  Latin 
and  Greek,  upon  two  or  three  themes;  and  they  that  made 
the  best  (two  or  three  of  them)  had  some  money  given  them 
by  the  school-Mr.,  for  the  most  part.  The  second  morning, 
one  of  the  form  was  called  out  to  expound  some  part  of  a 
Latin  or  Greek  author  (Cicero,  Livie,  Isocrates,  Homer,  Apol- 
linarius,  Xenophon,  &c. ),  and  they  of  the  two  next  forms 
were  called  to  give  an  account  of  it  some  other  part  of  the 
day;  or  else  they  were  all  of  them  (or  such  as  were  picked 
out,  of  whom  the  Mr.  made  choice  by  the  fear  or  confidence 
discovered  in  their  looks)  to  repeate  and  pronounce  distinctly 
without  book  some  piece  of  an  author  that  had  been  learned 
the  day  before.  From  8  to  9  we  had  time  for  Beaver,  and  re- 
collection of  ourselves,  and  preparation  for  future  exercises. 
Between  9  and  11,  those  exercises  were  read  which  had  been 
enjoined  us  over  night  (one  day  in  prose,  the  next  day  in 
verse),  which  were  selected  by  the  Mr. ;  some  to  be  examined 
-and  punished,  others  to  be  commended  and  proposed  for  imi- 
tation. Which  being  done,  we  had  the  practice  of  the  Dicta- 
mina;  one  of  the  5th  form  being  called  out  to  translate  some 
sentences  out  of  an  unexpected  author  {extempore)  into  good 
Latin;  and  then  one  of  the  6th  or  7th  form  to  translate  the 

^same  [extempore  also)  into  good  Greek.  Then  the  Mr. 
expounded  some  part  of  a  Latin  or  Greek  author  (one  day  in 
prose,  another  in  verse)  wherein  we  were  to  be  practised  in 
the  afternoon.  At  dinner  and  supper  times  we  read  some 
portion  of  the  Latin  Bible  in  a  manuscript  (to  facilitate  the 
reading  of  such  hands) :  and,  the  Prebendaries  then  having 
their  table  commonly  in  the  Hall,  some  of  them  had  often- 

-17- 


times  good  remembrances  sent  unto  them  from  thence,  and 
withal  a  theme  to  make  or  speak  some  extempore  verses  upon 
them.  Betwixt  1  and  3,  that  lesson  which  out  of  some  author 
appointed  for  that  day  had  been  by  the  Mr.  expounded  unto 
them  (out  of  Cicero,  Virgil,  Homer,  Euripides,  Isocrates, 
Livie,  Sallust,  &c. )  was  to  be  exactly  gone  through  by  con- 
struing and  other  grammatical  ways,  examining  all  the 
Rhetorical  figures,  and  translating  it  out  of  verse  into  prose, 
or  out  of  prose  into  verse,  out  of  Greek  into  Latin,  or  out  of 
Latin  into  Greek.  Then  they  were  enjoined  to  commit  that 
to  memory  against  the  next  morning.  Betwixt  3  and  4  we 
had  a  little  respite;  the  Mr.  walking  out  and  they  (in  beaver- 
times)  going  in  order  to  the  Hall,  and  then  fitting  themselves 
for  the  next  task.  Between  4  and  5  they  repeated  a  leaf  or 
two  of  some  book  of  Rhetorical  figures,  or  some  choice  Prov- 
erbs and  Sentences,  collected  by  the  Mr.  for  that  use.  After, 
they  were  practised  in  translating  some  Dictamina  out  of 
Latin  or  Greek,  or  sometimes  turning  Latin  or  Greek  verses 
into  English  verse.  Then  a  theme  was  given  them,  where- 
upon to  make  prose  of  verses,  Latin  or  Greek,  against  the 
next  morning.  After  supper  (in  summer-time)  they  were 
three  or  four  times  in  a  week  called  to  the  Mr.'s  chamber 
(especially  they  of  the  seventh  form),  and  there  instructed 
out  of  Hunter's  Cosmographie,  and  practised  to  describe  and 
find  out  cities  and  countries  in  the  maps.  Upon  Sundays  be- 
fore morning  prayers  in  summer  they  came  commonly  into 
the  school  (such  as  were  King's  scholars),  and  there  construed 
some  part  of  the  gospel  in  Greek,  or  repeated  some  part  of 
the  Greek  catechism.  In  the  afternoon  they  made  verses  upon 
the  preacher's  sermon,  or  epistle  and  gospel.  The  best 
scholars  in  the  7th  form  were  appointed  as  Tutors  to  read 
and  expound  places  of  Homer,  Virgil,  Horace,  Euripides,  or 
other  Greek  and  Latin  authors,  at  those  times  (in  the  fore- 
noon, or  afternoon,  or  after  beaver-times)  wherein  the  schol- 
ars were  in  the  school  in  expectation  of  the  Mr.  The  scholars 
were  governed  by  several  Monitores  (two  for  the  Hall,  as 
many  for  the  Church,  the  School,  the  Field,   the  cloyster— 

-18- 


which  last  attended  them  to  washing,  and  were  called  Moni- 
tores  immundorum)  J  The  Captain  of  the  School  was  over  all 
these,  and  therefore  caWed  Monitor  Monitorum.^  These  Mon- 
itors kept  them  strictly  to  speaking  of  Latin,  in  their  several 
commands;  and  withal  they  presented  their  complaints  or 
Accusations  (as  we  called  them)  every  Friday  morning,  when 
the  punishments  were  often  redeemed  by  exercises,  or  favours 
shown  to  the  boys  of  extraordinary  merit,  who  had  the  honour 
(by  the  Monitor  Monitorum)  many  times  to  beg  and  prevail 
for  such  remissions.  And  so.  at  other  times,  other  faults 
were  often  punished  by  scholastic  tasks,  as  repeating  whole 
orations  out  of  Tullie,  Isocrates,  Demosthenes,  or  speeches 
out  of  Virgil,  Thucydides,  Xenophon,  Euripides,  &c.  "^ 

This  quotation  has  been  extended  to  great  length  because 
of  its  frank  and  full  testimony  to  the  Latin  drill  and  routine 
of  the  seventeenth  century  English  school.  It  will  be  no 
wonder  to  anyone,  after  seeing  the  relentless  pressure  of 
classical  training  on  the  school-boy,  to  find  in  later  life 
and  business  the  two  languages,  Latin  and  English,  alive  and 
working  side  by  side,  sometimes  in  rivalry,  sometimes  in 
cooperation,  and  again  apart  and  independently.  On  looking 
into  the  day's  program  at  Eton  or  Westminster,  and  observ- 
ing the  mother  tongue  disgraced  and  banished,  and  Latin 
holding  imperial  sway,  one  might  expect  that  Rome  was  des- 
tined to  conquer  Britain  once  more,  not  with  her  legions  but 
her  language,  literature  and  ideas.  Fortunately  the  large 
body  of  English  children  were  saved  from  advancing  far  in 
their  academic  education,  and  so  the  great  vernacular, 
though  invaded  and  injured,  remained  invincible. 

As  at  Eton  and  Westminster,  so  at  St.  Paul's,  Milton's 
old  school,  classical  studies  formed  almost  the  entire  curri- 
culum. Hebrew  and  the  Oriental  tongues  had  gained  some 
Blight  recognition,  out  of  respect  to  the  sources  of  the  Bible. 

1  Monitors  of  the  unbathed. 

2  Monitor  of  the  Monitors. 

3  A  passage  quoted  by  Monroe,  History  Education,  pp.  625-7. 

—19- 


There  were  eight  forms  at  St.  Paul's.  The  curriculum  ex- 
tended over  from  four  to  six  years,  the  age  of  entrance  being 
from  eight  to  twelve,  that  of  departure  from  fourteen  to 
eighteen.  After  the  eighth  grade,  "being  commonly  by  this 
time  made  perfect  grammarians,  good  orators  and  poets,  and 
well  instructed  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  and  sometimes 
in  other  Oriental  tongues,"  the  students  passed  on  to  the 
Universities.^  So  passed  Milton  to  Cambridge  in  1624,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen. 

It  will  be  proper  at  this  time  to  glance  at  a  reform  scheme 
for  education  proposed  by  a  thinker  no  less  original  and  pro- 
gressive than  Milton  himself.  Having  considered  what  the 
young  pupil  was  actually  subjected  to,  we  may  now  notice 
what  relief,  if  any,  was  projected  for  him  by  a  liberal  and 
independent  mind.  In  1644,  twelve  years  after  Milton  had 
emerged  from  Cambridge  and  after  a  long  period  spent  in 
studious  leisure,  after  a  journey  to  Italy,  and  later  a  close 
acquaintance  with  Comenius's  ideas  of  educational  reform, 
together  with  experience  of  his  own  in  teaching  private 
pupils,  the  young  poet  and  scholar  had  formed  some  clear 
notions  of  an  ideal  education  for  the  ambitious  and  capable 
youth  of  his  day,  for  the  young  gentlemen  whose  future 
would  find  them  legislators  and  commanders  in  their  coun- 
try's service.  He  wrote  out  his  new  scheme,  with  com- 
mentaries upon  it,  and  with  an  introduction  setting  forth 
purposes  and  principles.  It  is  chiefly  the  aim  of  Milton's 
plan  that  saves  it  from  being  the  same  educational  program 
of  Eton  or  of  Cambridge.  In  form  and  external  aspect  it 
would  not  threaten  to  revolutionize  education  of  that  day, 
and  in  the  hands  of  a  shallow  master  it  would  easily  revert  to 
the  narrow  humanism  of  the  schools. 

Milton  would  put  a  complete  library  of  Greek  and  Latin 
authors  in  the  hands  of  boys,  but  would  encourage  them  to 
study  the  subject,  not  the  language;  to  study,  e.  g.,  agricul- 
ture through  Cato  and  Virgil,  not  Cato  and  Virgil  on  agricul- 
ture.    And  so  on— arithmetic,  geometry,  geography,  natural 

I  Masson  1,  p.  51. 

—20- 


philosophy,  astronomy,  physic,  ethics,  economics,  politics,  the 
grounds  of  law,  theology,  church  history,  logic,  rhetoric, 
poetics, —all  are  to  be  learned  through  Latin  and  Greek,  with 
slight  reading  in  Hebrew,  Syrian,  Chaldee,  and  Italian.  The 
subject-matter,  not  the  form  and  grammar,  of  the  books  is  to 
kept  in  mind;  and  the  practical  nature  of  each  course  is  to  be 
emphasized  by  concrete  application.  For  example,  the  study 
of  agriculture  is  for  improving  the  tillage  of  English  land,  re- 
covering bad  soil,  and  remedying  "the  waste  that  is  made  of 
good."  Physic  is  for  knowing  the  "tempers,  the  humours, 
the  seasons,  and  how  to  manage  a  crudity, "  which  knowledge 
"may,  at  some  time  or  other,  save  an  army."  Exercises  in 
composition  are  not  to  be  bothered  with  during  the  course  of 
acquiring  knowledge,  but  postponed  till  the  mind  is  stored 
with  truth  gathered  abundantly  from  every  field:  language 
drill  and  rhetorical  exercises  find  no  place  in  the  new  plan. 
Along  with  studies,  attention  is  systematically  given  to  gym- 
nastics, military  drills,  and  excursions  to  points  of  public  in- 
terest. 

All  this  is  very  good,  and  Milton  may  scorn  language  for 
its  own  sake  as  "so  much  miserable  Latin  and  Greek",  but 
as  long  as  he  holds  those  languages  as  the  necessary  medium 
for  reaching  all  knowledge — for  gaining  "universal  insight 
into  all  things" — many  a  poor  eye  would  fail  to  struggle 
through  the  difficult  medium  to  the  precious  thing  beyond. 
Milton  did  not  and  in  his  century  could  not  understand  that 
the  language-medium  should  for  economy's  sake  be  as  clear 
as  possible.  If,  in  the  study  of  Cato,  Varro,  and  Columella, 
the  pupils  find  the  language  difficult,  "so  much  the  better, " 
he  wrote,  "it  is  not  a  difficuly  beyond  their  years." 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  reform  in  education  for  the  seven- 
teenth centifi-y,  and  the  reform  of  perhaps  the  most  liberal 
and  progressive  thinker  of  the  day.  Language  is  not  any 
longer  to  be  studied  for  its  own  sake,  and  yet  many  difficult 
tongues  are  to  be  mastered  in  order  to  acquire  through  them 
the  substance  of  knowledge.     For  a  mind  like  Milton's,  all- 


—21- 


comprehensive  and  indefatigable,  the  system  might  have  been 
tolerable,  but  for  inferior  faculties  it  would  have  remained, 
like  the  the  courses  at  Eton,  Westminster,  and  St.  Paul's,  a 
long,  painful  exercise  in  language.  The  reformer  himself 
confessed  that  he  had  made  a  bow  not  "for  every  man  to 
shoot  in,  that  counts  himself  a  teacher:  but  [it]  will  require 
sinews  almost  equal  to  those  which  Homer  gave  Ulysses." 
For  our  purpose  Milton's  Tract  on  Education  shows  the  inevi- 
table grip  the  classical  languages  held  on  men's  minds  in  the 
seventeenth  century  educational  systems,  and  sets  in  clearer 
light  the  activities  and  impulses  in  connection  with  Latin  in 
that  industrious  and  learned  age. 

In  the  public  schools,  it  was  not  only  the  curriculum  and 
the  set  tasks  and  routine  that  gave  the  languages  their  over- 
whelming advantage  over  every  other  object  of  thought.  To 
point  out  the  right  direction  of  learning,  and  to  give  a  fore- 
taste of  its  sweetness,  choice  Latin  inscriptions  and  mottoes 
were  set  up  in  the  schools  before  the  eyes  of  the  young  pupils, 
as  finger-boards  along  the  way.  Old  St.  Paul's,  which  the 
future  reformer  attended,  and  which  went  down  in  the  fire 
of  1666,  was  a  model  for  those  guiding  mottoes,  which  he 
who  ran  cou  d  read.  Over  the  windows,  across  the  face  of 
the  building  toward  the  street,  were  inscribed  in  large  capitals 
the  words:  SCHOLA  CATECHIZATIONIS  PUERORUM  IN 
CHRIST!  OPT.  MAX.  FIDE  ET  BONIS  LITERIS;^  and  im- 
immediately  below  the  door  the  short  invitation:  "Tngredere 
ut  proficias.'"'^  On  the  windows  inside  the  rooms  for  the  last 
four  forms  were  painted  the  less  conciliatory  words:  Aut  doce 
aut  disce  aut  discede/'^  This  threefold  classification  of  duties 
was  sometimes  reduced  to  two  by  severe  masters,  in  putting 
the  warning  to  pupils:  aut  disce  aut  discede  ;^  learn  or  get  out. 

1  School  of  Catechism  for  boys  in  the  faith  of  Christ  supremely  good 
and  great,  and  in  good  literature. 

2  Enter  and  achieve. 

3  Either  teach  or  learn  or  leave  the  place. 

*  Masson,  I,  p.  50,  describes  St.  Paul's  in  Milton's  school-days. 

—22— 


Latin  was  thus  in  the  very  air  breathed.  Imagine  the  young 
lad  of  eight  or  ten  arriving  for  admission  at  St.  Paul's,  and  on 
approach  finding  with  his  curious  and  wondering  eyes  the  in- 
scriptions over  windows  and  door,  and  summoning  his  little 
stock  of  preparatory  Latin  for  a  brave  scholarly  effort  to 
construe  their  meaning.  When  once  he  crossed  the  threshold, 
it  was  to  find  other  inscriptions  in  the  same  precious  tongue 
which  he  was  entering  to  learn. 

In  classical  Eton  this  teaching  on  the  walls  was  by  no 
means  neglected.  Isaac  Walton  records'  that  when  Sir  Henry 
Wotton  came  as  Provost  to  Eton,  "he  was  a  constant  cherisher 
of  all  those  youths  in  that  school,  in  whom  he  found  either  a 
constant  diligence  or  a  genius  that  prompted  them  to  learn- 
ing. For  whose  encouragement  he  was  (besides  many  other 
things  of  necessity  and  beauty)  at  the  charge  of  setting  up  in 
it  two  rows  of  pillars,  on  which  he  caused  to  be  choicely 
drawn  the  pictures  of  divers  of  the  most  famous  Greek  and 
Latin  historians,  poets  and  orators:  persuading  them  not  to 
neglect  rhetoric,  because  'Almighty  God  has  left  mankind 
affections  to  be  wrought  upon.'  And  he  would  often  say 
'That  none  despised  eloquence  but  such  dull  souls  as  were  not 
capable  of  it.'  " 

Under  such  pressure  the  boy  grew  up,  with  Latin  in  the 
books  he  opened  for  his  eyes  to  pore  upon,  and  Latin  on  the 
walls  to  catch  the  random  glance  and  fill  up,  without  loss  to 
learning,  the  would-be  idle  moment.  Latin  was  in  his  ears, 
not  only  in  the  regular  class  drill,  but  in  the  incidental  talk 
of  his  fellow-pupils,  or  in  the  short  warning  of  master  or 
usher:  aut  disce  aut  discede.  Certainly  by  suggestion  and 
environment  Latin  was  in  fair  way  to  become  the  all-import- 
ant, all-absorbing  object  of  sense  and  contemplation.  It  was 
both  the  goal  of  all  endeavor  and  at  the  same  time  the  very 
means  toward  its  own  attainment.  It  followed  upon  itselfp 
turning  the  learner's  mind  round  and  round  in  smooth  and 
never-ending  circle. 

Consideration  has  been  taken  of  the  courses  of  study  in 

I  Walton,  Lives,  pp.  158-9  (Ed.  1852.) 

-23— 


the  public  schools,  of  the  Latin  authors  that  were  read  in  the 
original,  and  of  the  influences  stimulating  toward  a  narrow 
and  intense  humanism.  For  Latin  composition  we  may  take 
a  glance  at  the  sort  of  book  esteemed  of  value  for  the  seven- 
teenth century  student.  The  one  before  us  is  entitled  "Cal- 
liopeia,  or  A  rich  Store-house  of  proper,  choice,  and  elegant 
Latin  words,  and  phrases,  collected  (for  the  most  part)  out 
of  all  Tullies  workes:  and  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  Scholars, 
digested  into  alphabetical  order.  By  Thomas  Draxe.  Dublin, 
1612."  Like  the  door  of  St.  Paul's,  this  old  book  could  not 
admit  the  learner  to  its  inner  treasures  without  giving  him  a 
taste  of  learning  on  the  threshold.  The  title-page  held  three 
quotations  from  Cicero  Ad  Brutum,  one  being  a  particular 
rhetorical  jewel:  Verborum  delectus  origo  eloquentiae.^  The 
title-page  is  followed  by  a  four-page  Latin  dedication,  en- 
thusiastic and  eloquent,  addressed  to  Thomas  Leigh,  Claris- 
simo,  Generosissimo  et  Magnae  Expectationis  Adolescentulo,'^  " 
&c.  From  the  dedication  one  advances  to  a  Carmeii  Pa- 
raeneticum,  ad  Studiosam  Juventutem,'-^  in  eighteen  elegiac 
verses, — a  typical  seventeenth  century  encouragement  to 
aspiring  youth.  A  passage  from  the  Carmen  explains  the  plan 
of  the  Calliopeia: 

Verborum  et  Phrasium  grande  volumen  habes. 
Non  hie  barbaries,  nee  verba  incondita  sedem, 

Sed  tam,tum  inveniunt  verba  venusta  locum, 
Hinc  literal  laute  scribes,  discesque  minuto 

Tempore,  praeclare,  Rhetoriceque  loqui.'^ 

The  method  thus  eulogized  follows  next,  and  the  body  of 
the  book — the  grande  volumen— is  presented.     From  a  speci- 


1  The  choice  of  words  is  the  beginning  of  eloquence. 

2  A  most  distinguished  and  noble  youth,  of  great  expectation. 

3  Verses  for  the  encouragement  of  studious  youth. 

4  You  have  here  a  full  volume  of  words  and  phrases.  No  barbarous 
or  uncouth  words,  but  only  words  of  approved  elegance,  have  found  a  place 
herein.  From  this  book  you  will  learn  in  a  little  while  how  to  write  with 
finish  and  to  speak  in  a  fine  rhetorical  style. 

—24— 


men  of  the  two-columned  pages,  the  method  and  order  of 
word-study  are  self-explaining.  The  alphabetical  arrange- 
ment is  on  the  English  side. 


To  abandon,  renounce,  dis- 
claim 


Abjicere 

Rejicere 

Adversari 

Abnegare 

Abremmtiare 


quid 


To  abate,   to  lessen,  or  to 
diminish 

Imminuere 

Attenuare 

Rem  minor  em  facer  e 

De  quantitate  detrahere 

De  numero  demere. 


The  following  specimen,  so  useful  for  seventeenth  century 
religious  controversy,  was  hardly  derived  from  "Tullies 
workes. " 

The  Word  of  God. 

Verbum  Dei,  Sacra  Scriptura, 
Oraculum  Jehovae,  Sacra  Biblia, 
Vox  Dei,  Divinus  Sermo,  Sacra 
Dogmata  Dei,  Lex  Dei. 

Thomas  Draxe,  the  author,  "a  pious  and  excellent 
preacher,"  contributed  a  number  of  other  works  to  learning 
and  religion,  some  of  them  in  the  language  which  his  Calli- 
opeia  so  earnestly  encouraged. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Latin  in  the  Universities. 

If  after  graduating  from  the  public  schools  the  young 
man  proceeded  to  the  University,  jie  simply  kept  on  in  the 
same  direction  in  which  the  earlier  studies  had  started  him. 
The  system  of  education  at  Cambridge  in  vogue  in  Milton's 
day  "had  been  founded  very  much  on  the  mediaeval  notion 
of  what  constituted  the  totum  scibile.  According  to  this 
notion  there  were  'Seven  Liberal  Arts',  apart  from  and  sub- 
ordinate to  Philosophy  proper  and  Theology— to  wit.  Gram- 
mar, Logic,  and  Rhetoric,  forming  together  what  was  called 
the  Trivium;  and  Arithmetic,  Geometry,  Astronomy,  and 
Music,  forming  together  what  was  called  the  Quadrivium. 
Assuming  some  rudiments  of  these  arts  as  having  been  ac- 
quired in  school,  the  Universities  undertook  the  rest;  paying 
most  attention  however  to  the  Trivium,  and  to  Philosophy  as 
their  sequel."* 

The  regular  routine  of  work  at  Cambridge  consisted  of  two 
parts:  "the  College-studies,  or  the  attendance  of  the  students 
on  the  lectures  and  examinations  of  the  College-tutors  or  lectu- 
rers in  Latin,  Greek,  Logic,  Mathematics,  Philosophy,  etc. ;  and 
the  University-exercises,  or  the  attendance  of  the  students, 
together  with  the  students  of  other  Colleges,  in  the  'public 
schools'  of  the  University,  either  to  hear  the  lectures  of  the 
University-professors  of  Greek,  Logic,  etc.  (which,  however, 
was  not  incumbent  on  all  students),  or  to  hear,  and  to  take 
part  in  the  public  disputations  of  those  students  of  all  the 
Colleges  who  were  preparing  for  their  degrees.  "- 

The  regular  language  used  in  all  the  courses  of  lectures, 
by    lecturers  or  professors,  in    the   individual  college  and 

1  Maason  I,  193. 
■i  Masson  I,  96. 

—26— 


in  the  "public  schools"  of  the  University,  was  Latin.' 
The  same  lanpruage,  for  the  most  part,  as  in  Milton's  educa- 
tional scheme,  made  up  the  books  for  the  student's  private 
reading.  Thus  the  four  years  of  undergraduate  study,  and 
if  one  continued  on  for  his  M.  A.  degree,  three  years  more  of 
graduate  courses,  kept  the  young  man's  mind  occupied  with 
lectures,  readings,  and  various  exercises,  chiefly  in  the  an- 
cient tongue.  No  application  of  the  word  thorough  could  be 
made  to  anything  more  appropriately  than  to  the  perpetual 
round  of  Latin  activities  carried  on  throughout  an  academic 
career. 

The  ability  to  write  and  speak  the  language  was  one  of 
the  foremost  aims  of  University  training,  and  it  was  pro- 
vided in  the  statutes  that  candidates  for  the  bachelor's  or 
master's  degree  should  be  particularly  examined  as  to  their 
ready  skill  in  treating  every-day  affairs  in  Latin.-  Training 
in  composition  and  oral  discourses  was  given  in  the  different 
Colleges,  and  in  the  disputations  of  the  "public  schools",  in 
which  one  was  required  to  participate  before  graduation. 
During  the  last  year  of  his  undergraduateship  the  student 
rose  to  rank  as  Sophlster,  and  was  entitled  to  enter  the 
exercises  of  the  public  schools  and  to  participate  in  disputa- 
tion with  other  students  from  the  various  Colleges 

During  this  last  year  and  generally  in  the  closing  term 
of  the  year,  the  University  statutes  required  each  candidate 
for  graduation  to  keep  two  "Acts"  or  "Responsions"  in  the 
public  schools;  preparation  for  which  had  been  received  by 
similar  exercises  in  the  several  Colleges.  An  Act  or  Respon- 
sion  was  the  maintaining,  before  an  audience  of  Sophisters 
and  graduates  from  the  various  Colleges,  some  proposition  ap- 
proved by  the  proctor.  It  was  usually  a  moral  or  metaphys- 
ical thesis,  and  was  presented  in  Latin  carefully  prepared. 
After  the  delivery  of  this  Responsion,  by  a  Sophister,  three 
other  Sophisters  of  different  Colleges,  who  were  previously 
appointed  for  the  task,  spoke  one  after  the  other,  in  off-hand 

1  Laudian  Code  of  Statutes,  Titulus  IV,  §2. 

a  Laudian  Code  of  Statutes,  Titulus  IX,  Sec.  II,  §  1. 

-27— 


Latin,  attempting  by  logic  and  rhetoric  to  refute  the  thesis 
of  the  Respondent.  These  attempts  at  refutation  were  called 
Opponencies,  and  the  speakers  Opponents.  If  an  Opponent, 
with  the  double  burden  of  Latin  and  logic  upon  him,  stuck  in 
the  midst  of  a  syllogism,  or  of  a  rhetorical  period,  the  moder- 
ator, some  Master  of  Arts,  was  there  to  help  him  out.  When 
all  the  Opponencies  were  spoken,  the  moderator  commented 
on  the  discussion  with  appropriate  criticism  of  the  disputants, 
and  the  Act  was  over.  Two  Responsions  and  two  Opponen- 
cies were  required  of  every  Sophister.' 

These  disputations  in  Latin  not  only  formed  a  necessary 
part  of  every  student's  University  career  but  also  furnished 
public  entertainment  on  great  occasions.  The  gala-days  of  the 
University  of  Cambridge  were  Vesperiae  Comitiorum  and  Dies 
Comitiorum,  the  eve  of  Commencement  and  Commencement 
Day  itself.  The  essential  business  of  these  days  was  the  con- 
ferring of  the  higher  degrees  on  successful  candidates— M  A., 
D.  D.,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  and  Mus.  D.  The  chief  entertainment, 
however,  consisted  in  public  disputations,  and  in  the  displays 
of  Latin  oratory  wherein  the  graduates  had  for  long  years 
been  laboriously  trained.  The  choice  of  disputants  was  care- 
fully made  to  secure  the  very  best,  and  thereby  render  the 
occasion  as  lively  and  brilliant  as  possible.  From  morning 
till  late  in  the  afternoon  of  both  the  Vesperiae  Comitiorum 
and  the  Dies  Comitiorum,  crowded  audiences  were  delighted 
to  listen  to  the  learned  scholastic  debates  representing  the 
various  faculties  of  Theology,  Philosophy,  Civil  Law,  Medi- 
cine and  Music. 

In  the  theological  and  philosophical  faculties,  where  the 
candidates  were  most  numerous,  the  greatest  public  interest 
centered,  on  Commencement  Day.  There  were  usually  two 
theological  disputations,  one  for  the  senior  divines,  with  a 
Respondent  selected  from  the  commencing  Doctors,  and  one 
for  the  juniors,  with  the  Respondent  from  those  last  admit- 
ted to  the  B.  D.  degree.  Opponents  were  supplied  from  the 
same  groups.      For  the  philosophical   disputation,  the  dis- 


I  Masson  I,  100;  Laudian  Code,  Tit.  VI. 

-28- 


putants  were  usually  selected  from  the  new  Bachelors  of 
Arts;  but  since  these  Commencement  exercises  served  only 
as  brilliant  entertainments,  and  not  as  conditions  of  gradua- 
tion, it  happened  that  if  the  Bachelors  could  not  furnish  the 
fit  men,  both  the  Respondents  and  the  Opponents  might  be 
secured  from  the  Masters  of  "not  more  than  four  years' 
standing."  There  was  also  at  these  exercises  the  prevari- 
cator or  Varier,  an  important  figure,  the  licensed  jester  for 
the  hour,  who  accompanied  the  disputations  with  Latin  witti- 
cisms and  hits  at  the  dons  J 

Milton's  formal  exercises  in  Latin  during  his  college 
career  were  seven  in  number,  and  remain  in  their  original 
form,  having  been  published  in  1674  in  a  volume  with  his 
Familiar  Epistles  -  The  titles  are  as  follows:  (1)  Uti-um 
Dies  an  Nox  praestantior  sitl^  (2)  De  Sphaerarum  Concentw* 
(3)  Contra  Philosophiam  Scholasticam;''  (4)  In  rei  cuiicslihet 
interitii  non  datiir  resoliitio  ad  materiaiyi  primamf  (4)  Non 
dantur  formae  partiales  in  animali  praeter  totalemf  (6)  Ex- 
ercitationes  nonnumquam  ludicras  Philosophiae  studiis  nan 
ohessef'  {7)Beatiores  reddit  homhies  Ars  quant  Ignorantia.^ 

Exercise  marked  (6),  presenting  an  argument  in  favor 
of  occasional  jolly  relaxation,  was  followed  by  a  discourse 
apparently  to  illustrate  the  sort  of  fun  just  recommended. 
It  was  a  strained  and  unnatural  effort  at  vulgar  jokes  which 
suited  the  character  of  Milton  far  less  than  did  the  loftier 
strains.     The  peroration  is  in  English  verse,  and  Milton  says 

1  Masson  I,  140-4;  Cf.  Laudian  Code,  Tit  VII. 

3  Masson  I,  205  ff. 

3  Is  day  or  night  more  excellent? 

*    The  music  of  the  spheres. 

5  Against  the  scholastic  philosophy. 

6  The  perishing  of  anything  does  not  imply  a  resolution   to  original 
matter. 

7  There  are  partial  forms  in  an  animal,  in  addition  to  the  whole. 

s  Occasional  indulgence  in  sportive  exercises  does  not  interfere  with 
the  studies  of  philosophy. 

9  Men  are  made  more  happy  by  knowledge  than  by  ignorance. 

—29— 


as  he  begins  it:  "Leaping  over  the  University  statutes,  as 
if  they  were  the  walls  of  Romulus,  I  run  from  Latin  to  Eng- 
lish." This  peroration  was  first  published  in  1673  in  a  new 
edition  of  Milton's  miscellaneous  poems,  and  headed:  "Anno 
aetatis  19:  at  a  vacation  exercise  in  the  College,  part  Latin, 
part  English."  The  beginning  is  an  address  to  his  native 
tongue,  rather  complimentary  for  that  time  and  place.  The 
whole  exercise  typifies  the  struggle  which  took  place  in  Mil- 
ton's mind  on  many  occasions  in  later  life  when  he  had  to 
decide  between  the  two  languages.  The  exercise  marked  (7) 
above  was  a  long  oration,  occupying  about  an  hour  in  speak- 
ing. Masson  calls  it  "one  of  the  noblest  pieces  of  Latin 
prose  ever  penned  by  an  Englishman."' 

Other  examples  of  Latin  theses  defended  and  opposed  in 
Cambridge  disputations  may  be  given.  In  1628  the  theses  of 
the  Divinity  Respondents  were:  (1)  Auctoritas  Sacrae 
Scri'pturae  non  pendet  ah  ecclesiaf  (2)  Defectus  gratiae  non 
tollit  dominium  tempor ale ;^  (3)  Secessio  Ecclesiae  Anglicanae 
a  Romana  non  est  Schismatica;'^  (4)  Fides  justif leans  prae- 
supponit  veri  nominis  poenitantiamJ  The  philosophical  Re- 
spondent maintained  the  theses  Naturam  non  pati  senium,^ 
and  was  favored  by  Milton  who  wrote  for  him  some  Latin 
hexameters  on  the  chosen  subject."  In  the  year  of  Milton's 
graduation,  1632, there  were  only  two  divinity  graduates,  and 
there  were  two  divinity  acts  on  Commencement  Day,  July  3. 
In  the  first  act,  one  Dr.  Gilbert  maintained  the  theses:  (1) 
Sola  Scripturaregula Fidei,^  and  (2)  Reliquiae  peccati  manent 

1  These  exercises  are  reviewed  by  Masson,  I,  205-230. 
3  The  authority  of   the  Sacred  Scriptures  does  not  depend  on  the 
church. 

3  Want  of  grace  does  not  forfeit  temporal  power. 

*  The  separation  of  the  Church  of  England  from  Rome  is  not  a  schism. 

5  A  justifying  faith  presupposes  a  genuine  repentance. 

9  Nature  never  grows  old. 

7  These  theses  are  mentioned  in  Masson  I,  145-146. 

^  Scripture  alone  is  the  rule  of  faith. 

—30- 


in  renatis  etiam  post  haptismum.^  In  the  second  act,  the 
Respondent  was  one  Mr.  Breton,  who  maintained:  (1)  In 
optimis  renator^im  operihus  datur  culpabilisdefectics,'^  and  (2) 
N2id2is  assens7is  divinitus  revelatis  non  est  fides  justificans.^ 

These  examples  of  academic  exercises  are  sufficient  to 
show  the  nature  of  the  propositions  contended  for,  the  topics 
for  which  the  schools  and  the  times  had  a  preference.  Not 
only  was  Latin  the  language  used  in  the  disputations,  but  the 
ideas  themselves  were  as  remote  from  "men's  business  and 
bosoms"  as  the  language  was  from  the  homely  every-day 
speech  of  the  people.  The  only  value  these  exercises  pos- 
sessed was  the  power  of  discipline  for  the  perfecting  of  the 
Latin  tongue.  But,  in  the  estimation  of  most  men,  that  value 
was  sufficient  and  fulfilled  the  aim  of  education.  A  few, 
like  Bacon,  Milton,  and  Hobbes,  ridiculed  the  schoolmen  for 
their  miserable  Latin  and  Greek,  and  their  learned  bewilder- 
ment in  matters  incomprehensible  and  in  questions  of  ab- 
struse philosophy.'* 

Responsions  and  Opponencies,  besides  furnishing  logical 
and  rhetorical  training  in  College  and  University  and  forming 
learned  entertainment  on  Commencement  days,  served  also 
as  a  part  of  programs  for  amusing  distinguished  visitors  at 
any  time  during  the  year.  For  instance,  in  September,  1629, 
when  Lord  Holland,  recently  elected  Chancellor,  visited 
Cambridge,  he  listened  to  an  Act  in  which  the  theses  were: 
(1)  Productio  animae  rationalis  est  nova  creatio^ ;  (2)  Origo 
fontium  est  amari;  (3)  Regimen  monxtrchicum  haereditarium 
praestat  electivo.^  In  1615,  on  the  occasion  of  James  I's  sec- 


1  Relics  of  sin  remain  in  the  regenerate  even  after  baptism. 

3  In  the  best  acts  of  the  regenerate  there  is  found  some  culpable 
shortcoming. 

3  Bare  assent  to  revelation  is  not  a  justifying  faith.     Masson  I,  191- 
192. 

*  For  example,  Milton's  Education,  5th  paragraph;  Hobbes's  Levia- 
than, chapter  VIII,  last  paragraph. 

5  The  production  of  a  rational  life  is  a  new  creation. 

6  Streams  have  their  origin  in  the  sea.      An  hereditary  monarchy  is 
superior  to  an  elective  as  a  form  of  government.     Masson  I,  158. 

-31— 


ond  visit  to  Cambridge,  Chappel,  Milton's  future  tutor,  was 
one  of  the  disputants  in  a  public  act  before  the  king,  treat- 
ing some  point  of  difference  between  Protestantism  and 
Papacy,  Chappel  was  famous  for  his  verbal  skill,  and 
pushed  his  opponent  so  that  he  is  said  to  have  "fainted." 
James  himself  boldly  took  up  the  controversy  and  was  like- 
wise vanquished.  1 

The  Latin  lectures  (Praelectiones)  in  the  Colleges  and 
University,  delivered  by  Readers  (Lectores)  and  Professors, 
formed  a  regular  and  necessary  part  of  the  academic  routine, 
and  gave  the  faculty  opportunity  to  put  to  practical  use  the 
language  learned  while  they  were  Respondents  and  Opponents 
in  earlier  years.  These  praelections  after  delivery  were 
often  turned  over  to  the  University  printer  for  publication, 
A  few  examples  may  be  mentioned.  In  1618  Sebastian  Ben- 
field,  Margaret  Professor  in  Oxford,  published  Praelectiones 
de  Perserverantia  Smictorum.-  In  1621  and  again  in  1628 
Thomas  Vicars,  who  Latinized  his  name  into  Vicarsus  and  de 
Vicariis,  published  in  London  Manuductio  ad  Artem  Rhetori- 
cam,  ante  paucos  in  privatum  quorundam  Scholarium  Usum 
conx^innata."^  "This  book  is  the  effect  of  certain  lectures  in 
Queen's  college  public  refectory,  when  he  bore  the  office  of 
rhetoric  reader."  John  Cleveland,  the  cavalier  poet,  fellow 
in  St.  John's,  Cambridge,  while  rhetoric  reader  was  so  dis- 
tinguished for  the  purity  and  terseness  of  his  Latin  style  that 
he  was  usually  employed  by  the  society  in  composing  their 
speeches  and  epistles,^ 

Dr,  Robert  Sanderson,  whose  biography  forms  one  of 
Walton's  "Lives",  was  made  fellow  in  Lincoln  College, 
Oxford,  in  1606,  and  reader  in  logic  in  1608;  and  in  1611  was 
ordained  deacon  and  priest.     His  writings  and  lectures  were 

1  Masson  I,  90. 

2  Lectures  on  the  perseverance  of  the  saints.    Wood,  Fasti,  Part  II, 
488-9. 

3  Guide  to  the  art  of   rhetoric,  arranged  some  years  since   for  the 
private  use  of  certain  scholars.     Wood,  Fasti,  Part  I,  443. 

4  Masson  I,  398-9. 

-32- 


many  and  famous:  his  Logicae  Artis  Compendium^  passed 
through  a  number  of  editions,  and  his  De  Juramenti  Promis- 
sorii  Obligatione  Praelectiones  Septem— seven  lectures  on  the 
obligation  of  the  promissory  oath,  delivered  in  the  theological 
school  at  Oxford  in  1646— were  translated  into  the  English 
language  by  Charles  I  during  his  confinement  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  and  printed  at  London,  in  1655.-  In  1647  he  delivered 
ten  lectures  in  the  theological  school  in  Oxford  on  the  Obliga- 
tion of  Conscience— i)e  Obligatione  Conscientiae.  Sanderson 
was  appointed  regius  professor  of  divinity  in  Oxford  in  1642, 
and  these  learned  works  were  the  fruit  of  that  office.^  In 
1653  was  published  at  Oxford  De  Cometis  Praelectio  Oxonii 
habita,^  by  Seth  Ward,  "a  most  noted  mathematician  and 
astronomer  of  his  time,"  whom  we  shall  meet  again  as  the 
chastiser  of  the  philosopher  Hobbes  in  a  mathematical  con- 
troversy. 

Text-books  being  chiefly  in  Latin,  the  Masters  and  Fel- 
lows kept  on  the  alert  for  writing,  compiling  and  publishing 
suitable  and  timely  treatises  on  the  various  subjects  of  study. 
The  above-mentioned  Manuductio  concinnata  of  Vicars  and 
the  Logicae  Artis  Compendium  of  Sanderson  were  works  of 
this  nature.  An  interesting  account  is  given  by  W^ood^  of  a 
busy  life  devoted  to  the  advancement  of  learning  in  the  Uni- 
versities. Christopher  Angelus,  born  in  Greece  and  banished 
for  his  religion  by  the  Turks,  came  to  England  and  resided 
first  at  Cambridge,  and  later  at  Oxford  till  his  death  in  1639. 
He  "did  very  good  services  among  the  young  scholars  in  the 
University  that  were  raw  in  the  Greek  tongue,"  having  pub- 
lished in  both  Greek  and  Latin  a  hand-book  of  Greek  institu- 
tions. Enchiridion  de  Institutis  Graecorum,  at  Cambridge  in 
1619.     He  was  the  author  of  various  other  serviceable  pro- 

1  Compendium  of  logic. 

2  Walton's  Lives,  339  (Ed.  1852). 

3  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.  sub  Sanderson. 

4  Wood's  Athenae  IV,  249— Comets:  a  lecture  delivered  at  Oxford. 

5  Wood,  Fasti,  Part  II,  633. 

'  —33— 


ductions  in  both  the  learned  languages,  and  at  his  death  left 
"behind  him  the  character  of  a  pure  Grecian  and  an  honest 
and  harmless  man." 

Besides  the  Praelectiones,  forming  in  the  University  sys- 
tem a  large  and  essential  part,  other  important  discourses 
were  delivered  in  Latin  before  the  academic  public.  These 
were  sermons — ConcioTies— and  orations— Orationes.  Atten- 
tion will  be  given  first  to  the  sermons.  "In  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century  the  sermon  became  one  of  the  most 
highly-cultivated  forms  of  intellectual  entertainment  in  Great 
Britain,  and  when  the  theatres  were  closed  at  the  Common- 
wealth it  grew  to  be  the  only  public  form  of  eloquence. "'  In 
the  Universities  sermons  had  long  held  a  place  of  special  dig- 
nity and  honor,  and  from  these  institutions  went  forth  the 
great  preachers  and  divines  of  the  Church  of  England.  A 
part  of  the  sermons  delivered  in  the  University  were  regu- 
larly in  Latin,  being  a  fixed  form  required  by  statute  for  cer- 
tain occasions.  The  Laudian  code  of  Statutes  given  to  Oxford 
in  1636  ordered  that  a  Latin  sermon  delivered  ad  Clerum  (to 
the  clergy)  in  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  {Beatae  Mariae 
Virginis)  should  introduce  each  of  the  four  terms  of  the 
academic  year.  This  sermon  should  be  preached  in  turn  by 
the  Professors  of  Theology,  and  the  Graduates  in  Theology 
who  had  taken  holy  orders;  or  by  substitutes  approved  by  the 
Vice-chancellor.  These  substitutes  were  required  in  all  cases 
to  have  assumed  holy  orders  and  to  be  Graduates  in  Theology, 
or  at  least  to  be  Masters  of  Arts  of  four  years'  standing  and 
to  have  enrolled  in  the  Faculty  of  Theology.- 

Only  an  extraordinary  situation  could  dispense  with  these 
statutory  exercises.  The  records  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge for  1643  bear  testimony  to  a  situation  of  this  kind. 
On  September  19,  the  following  Grace  passed  the  Senate  of 
the  University: 

"Whereas  ye  term  approacheth,  &ye  statutes  require  there 
should  be  a  latin  sermon  to   incroduce  ye  same,    MAY  IT 

1  Encyp.  Brit.  11th  ed.,  sub  sermon. 

2  Laudian  Code,  Titulus  I,  §  2. 

—34— 


PLEASE  you  that  for  ye  avoiding  of  ye  like  tumult  which 
threatened  some  danger  to  ye  Preacher  in  ye  beginning  of  ye 
last  Term,  the  said  latin  sermon  be  for  this  term  ommitted."^ 

Another  fixed  occasion  for  a  Latin  sermon,  according  to 
the  statutes  of  Laud  for  Oxford,  was  in  die  Cinerum  sive 
Carnis-privii.'-  It  was  also  specially  ordained  that  every  can- 
didate for  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Divinity,  before  his  grad- 
uation, should  preach  a  Latin  sermon  in  the  church  of  St. 
Mary's  in  his  own  proper  person,  and  not  by  a  substitute— 
per  se  et  non  per  alium.-^  The  special  prohibition,  moreover, 
was  ordered  against  anyone's  delivering  the  sermon  before 
the  fifth  year  of  his  Master's  degree,  and  without  having 
taken  holy  orders.^ 

Many  of  the  sermons  delivered  at  the  Universities  were 
afterwards  published,  for  the  honor  of  the  preacher  and  the 
institution.  Sometimes  a  collection  of  sermons  was  made 
and  published  by  the  author,  and  frequently  an  individual 
sermon  of  supposed  importance  was  issued  separately.'^ 

Orations  in  Latin  also  formed  a  distinguished  part  of  the 
University  public  events.  These  resemble  in  rhetorical  arti- 
ficiality the  Responsions  and  Opponencies,  but  their  purpose 
was  not  training  in  literary  style  and  ogical  art:  it  was  an 
exhibition  of  finished  skill  and  approved  excellence.  The 
position  of  Public  Orator  was  one  of  high  honor,  to  be  filled 
only  by  a  brilliant  scholar  and  accomplished  Latinist.  The 
Orator  was  required  to  reside  continually  in  the  University, 
except  in  case  of  illness  or  urgent  business,  and  at  the  dis- 
pensation of  the  Vice  chancellor.  During  his  illness  or 
absence  another  Orator  was  appointed  in  his  place;  and  if  his 
disability  amounted  to  more  than  a  fourth  part  of  the  year 


1  Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  349. 

2  Ash  Wednesday.  Laudian  Code,  Tit.  VI,  Sec.  II,  §6;  Tit.  XVI.  §4 

3  Laudian  Code,  Tit.  VI,  Sec.  VI,  §2. 

•1  Ne  quis  ante  quinquennium  completum  a  suscepto  Magistrali  Gradu, 
idem  quoque  sacris  Ordinibus  initiatu?,  Concionem  huiusmodi  habere  per 
mittatur.     Laudian  Code,  Tit.  VI,  Sec.  VI,  §  2. 

5  For  examples,  see  Wood,  III,  345  and  735,  under  Parr  and  Wall. 

-35- 


either  by  continuous  or  intermittent  absence,  a  new  Orator 
was  elected  in  his  place.' 

The  newly  elected  Orator  was  installed  into  office  by  tak- 
ing the  oath  to  observe  all  the  statutes,  customs,  liberties, 
and  privileges  of  the  University,  and  to  perform  faithfully 
the  duties,  one  and  all,  that  pertained  to  his  office.  These 
duties  were  the  composition  of  letters  and  epistles  at  the 
order  of  the  Convocation  or  Congregation,  and  to  read  them 
pubHcly;  and  to  deliver  suitable  speeches  at  the  reception  and 
entertainment  of  distinguished  personages  visiting  the  Uni- 
versity, or  on  any  other  solemn  occasion  - 

These  orations  may  have  been  congratulatory,  panegyri- 
cal, or  funeral,  but  in  any  event  aimed  to  be  rhetorically  en- 
tertaining. When  any  noble  or  royal  visitor  arrived,  the  Orator 
attempted  the  utmost  of  his  wit  and  eloquence.  At  Christ's 
College,  Cambridge,  where  Lord  Holland  visited  as  Chancel- 
lor in  1629,  he  was  entertained  with  speeches  and  banquets, 
and  according  to  the  customary  arrangements  "a  set  oration 
in  Latin"  uas  made  by  one  of  the  students.  The  brilliant 
Jack  Cleveland  was  Orator  on  this  occasion.^  Once 
Prince  Charles  visited  Cambridge  and  was  greeted  by  a 
speech  from  the  Vice  chancellor  and  one  also  from  the  Public 
Orator,  besides  various  other  learned  and  honorable  atten- 
tions The  reception  given  the  young  Prince  so  pleased  King 
James  that  on  passing  through  Cambridge  a  few  days  later 
he  stopped  and  was  himself  received  with  flattering  enter- 
tainment. He  listened  to  no  less  than  four  speeches,  one 
being  by  Jack  Cleveland  in  about  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  of  the  longest  and  most  sounding  words  the  Latin  language 
could  afford.^ 

The  attempt  of  James  in  1623  to  secure  an  alliance  with 
Spain  through  the  marriage  of  Prince  Charles  with  the  Spanish 

1  Laudi:in  Code.  Tit.  XVII,  Sec.  VII. 
■■I  Laudian  Code,  Tit.  XVII,  Sec    VII. 
:>  Masson  I,  163. 
»  Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  322. 

-36- 


Infanta,  and  the  trip  of  the  Prince  and  the  Duke  of  Buckinj^- 
ham  to  the  continent  for  that  purpose,  furnished  a  striking 
theme  for  discussion  by  patriotic  and  loyal  scholars  in  the 
Universities.  It  made  no  difference  that  the  enterprise 
turned  out  to  the  repulse  of  the  royal  suitor  and  to  the  shame 
of  England:  his  going  and  coming  both  furnished  rare  oppor- 
tunity for  rhetorical  exhibition.  John  King,  Public  Orator 
at  Oxford,  gave  forth  first  his  Ch-atio  panegyrica  de  aiispi- 
cato  Caroli  Principis  in  Regnum  Hi^^panicum  Adventu,^  and 
followed  it  with  a  Gratnlatio  Oxoniensium  pro  Carolo  reduce.' 
At  Cambridge  the  Public  Orator  George  Herbert,  future 
author  of  "The  Temple",  w-as  the  one  to  celebrate  the  safe 
retreat  of  the  Prince  from  the  presence  of  the  unwilling 
Infanta  and  the  Spanish  people.  Herbert's  oration,  full  of 
fine  phrases  and  safe  academic  generalities,  touches  very 
vaguely  on  the  delicate  matter  in  hand.  Its  title  as  published 
by  Herbert  suggests  the  sonorous  oratorical  style:  Oratio 
qua  auspicatissimum  serenissimi  Principis  Caroli  reditum  ex 
Hispaniis  celebravit  Georgiiis  Herbert,  Academiae  Cantahrig- 
iensis  Orator.'-^ 

A  reading  of  the  speech  betrays  how  words  were  the  end 
and  glory  of  scholastic  discourse;  how^  rhetoric  was  the  dili- 
gent search  for  fine  verbal  combinations,  and  the  neglect  of 
sense  and  reason  for  the  sake  of  a  classical  allusion  and 
quotation.  Any  subject  whatsoever  might  do  for  such  exer- 
cise in  the  hands  of  a  trained  speaker,  whether  "The  most 
happy  return  of  Prince  Charles  from  Spain",  or  the  theme 
of  Milton's  academic  argument.  "Is  day  or  night  more  excel- 
lent?' 

The  statutes  governing  the  Universities  were  in  Latin. 


1  Panegyrican  oration  on  the  auspicious  arrival  of  Prince  Charles  in 
Spain. 

-  Gratulation  of  Oxonians  on  the  return  of  Charles.  Wood.  Fasti, 
Part  II,  632. 

•T  Dictionary  of  Nat.  Biog.,  sub  Herbert.  Oration  with  which  George 
Herbert,  Orator  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  celebrated  the  most 
happy  return  from  Spain  of  the  most  serene  Prince  Charles. 

-37- 


Cambridge  continued  under  the  code  of  the  Reverend  Dr. 
Whitgift,  Master  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  others, 
^iven  to  the  Urlivetsity  in  1570  by  the  authority  of  Queeii 
Elizabeth.  The  statiites  coveir  Idrty^five  images;  and  coifiF»ris^ 
fifty  Articles  outlining  \fi  detail  the  aditiiriisti-atiofl  of  the 
iristitutiofl.i  l^he  statutes  goVeriling  Oxford,  Codified  in  1636> 
uiider  AreiibishoiD  Laud^s  charicellofship  arid  called  the  Laud; 
iSn  Code,  are  in  twenty-o'nei  Articles  domprisirig  one  hundred 
and  ninety  pages.- 

As  the  University  ^tatute^s  wet'e  in  LsLtin,  so  also  the' 
decrees  of  the  legislative  councils  were  made  and  recorded  in 
the  honored  language  of  law  and  tradition.  The  Laudiari 
Code  required  that  even  the  summoning  of  the  Convocation  of 
Masters  and  Doctors,  the  highest  council  of  the  University,- 
should  be  done  by  the  bedels  according  to  a  regular  formula,- 
in  a  loud  voice  and  in  the  Latin  tongue  (clara  voce,  Latino' 
eloqtiio).^  It  was  further  ordered  that  in  the  hall  of  Congre- 
gation and  Convocation  anyone  who  proposed  to  speak  should 
use  the  Latin  tongue  unless  the  Vice-chancellor  permitted 
the  vernacular.  *  The  dignity  and  solemnity  of  the  deliberative 
body  were  provided  for  by  forbidding  the  members  to  make" 
any  commotion  in  the  hall,  to  use  vain  repetitions,  of  to  indulge' 
in  abusive  or  indecent  languftg'e.^ 

Registers,  licenses,  oaths,  dispensations,  prayers,  and 
fesfgnatioris,  in  connection  with  the  University  administra- 
tion, were  regularly  in  Latin,  as  the  language  of  dignity, 
tradition,  and  authority.  These  forms,  together  with  the' 
lectures,  responsions,  sermons,  orations,  and  decrees  made  up 
the  regular  educational  and  administrative  business  of  the 
institutions.  The  Latin  language  constituted  the  web  and 
woof  of  serious  academic  discourse.  Even  the  riiinor  and 
incidental  affairs,  in  which  full  liberty  was  granted  for  the 

1  Heywood's  Cambridge^  I,  1-45. 

3  Laudian  Code  of  Statutes,  ed.  by  Johrt  (Jriffiths.  Oxford,  Clarendori 
Press.     1888. 

3  Laudian  Code,  Tit.  X,  Sec.  I. 

4  Laudian  Code,  Tit.  XI,  §3. 

-38— 


vernacular,  were  inclined  to  seek  expression  in  the  favored 
language  of  learning.  Dramatic  representations,  occasional 
poetry,  and  various  oral  utterance  are  the  matters  referred 
to,  and  these  will  be  taken  up  in  order. 


CHAPTER  III. 
Extra-Curriculum  Uses  of  Latin. 

Latin  shared  with  English  the  responsibility  and  honors 
of  the  stage  in  University  performances.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  the  older  language  had  most  of  the  burden.  In  1592, 
on  December  4,  the  University  of  Cambridge  addressed  an 
English  letter  to  Lord  Burleigh  in  ansv^er  to  a  request  sent 
them  to  play  a  comedy  in  English  before  the  Queen  at  Christ- 
mas. They  declared  their  willingness  to  please  her  Majesty, 
but  having  no  "English  comedies,  for  that  we  never  used 
any",  they  begged  "further  limitacion  of  time  for  due 
preparacion,  and  liberty  to  play  in  Latyn."'  The  influence  of 
Seneca  was  yet  unbroken  in  academic  drama. 

The  custom  of  performing  at  public  schools  and  Universi- 
ties was  at  its  height  in  the  great  dramatic  age  of  James  I 
and  Charles  I.  In  the  Universities  this  custom  was  observed 
on  notable  occasions,  especially  on  a  visit  from  royalty,  the 
plays  being  sometimes  in  English,  more  frequently  in  Latin, 
and  taken  from  a  small  stock  in  hand  or  prepared  for  the 
occasion.-  King  James  on  his  first  visit  to  Cambridge,  in 
1615,  listened  to  the  Latin  comedy /g'7ioram2^s,  which  occupied 
six  hours  in  the  acting,  and  was  so  delighted  with  it  that  he 
made  a  second  visit  to  the  University  just  to  see  a  second 
performance.''  The  play  was  written  by  George  Ruggle,  M.  A., 
fellow  of  Clare  Hall,  and  was  published  in  1630. ' 

The  following  account  of  this  interesting  comedy  is  taken 
from  Ward's  History  of  the  English  Drama:'' 


1  Heywood's  Cambridge,  II,  40. 

2  Masson  I,  159.  Shakespeare  Jahrbuch,  XXXIV.  p.  221.  The  Ency- 
clopedia Britannica  (11th  ed.,  sub  Drama)  gives  Knglish  plays  decided  pre- 
dominance at  Oxford  at  this  time. 

3  Masson  I,  158-9. 

^  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.,  .sm/;  Ruggle. 

&  New  and  revised  ed.,  vol.  Ill,  186-7. 

-40- 


"Ignoramus  is  intended  as  a  satire  on  the  barbarous 
ignorance  and  the  equally  barbarous  phraseology  of  a  petti- 
fogger who  can  neither  talk  Latin,  nor  French,  nor  good 
King's  English,  but  only  a  vile  professional  jargon  of  his 
own,  which  goes  far  to  justify  an  attempt  in  the  course  of 
the  play  to  exorcise  him  as  possessed  by  evil  spirits.  He 
hates  the  University  and  all  its  ways,  and  is  intended  as  a 
living  example  of  barbarous  Philistinism.  His  speech  is 
accordingly  made  up  of  the  terms  of  his  profession,  which  is 
introduced  with  extraordinary  prompitude  to  garnish  his 
horrible  Latin;  'lingua  mea',  he  says,  'vadit  ad  verba  accus- 
tomata:  Puto  me  placitare  jam.''  The  characteristics  satir- 
ized in  Ignoramus  are  not,  however,  confined  to  such  com- 
paratively harmless  peculiarities  of  his  profession  as  a  bar- 
barous phraseology;  for  his  principles  are  on  a  level  with  his 
style  of  speech,  and  his  desire  is  'capere  in  manum''  whomso- 
ever he  can,  so  that  a  poetic  justice  is  exercised  upon  him  by 
his  finding  himself  all  but  'murderatus'.  before  in  the  epilogue 
he  finally  takes  his  departure  'bootatus  et  spuratus'  for  Lon- 
don." The  ridicule  on  the  lawyers  aroused  their  wrath,  but 
all  attempts  to  discredit  and  suppress  the  play  were  in  vain. 

Another  comedy  popular  in  Cambridge  was  Fraiis  Hon- 
esta,-^  by  Phillip  Stubbe,  fellow  of  Trinity,  and  was  acted  in 
that  College  first  in  1616.  In  September.  1629,  this  comedy 
was  presented  as  a  special  feature  in  the  elaborate  entertain- 
ment of  the  new  Chancellor,  Lord  Holland,  who  visited  the 
University  in  company  with  the  French  Ambassador.  Fraics 
Honesta,  after  an  honorable  career  on  the  stage,  was  pub- 
lished in  small  duodecimo  in  1632.  Cooper  mentions  the  act- 
ing and  publishing  of  the  comedy,  and  adds:  "It  is  a  play  of 
very  little  merit,  and  several  parts  are  not  very  decent."^ 
About  February,  1631,  a  Latin  comedy  entitled  Senile  Odium,^ 


1  My  tongue  goes  after  custom-made  words;  I  think  I'm  making  ele- 
gant hits. 

2  To  "take  in." 

3  Fair  Fraud.     Masson  I,  159. 

4  Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  105. 

5  Odious  Old  Age.     Masson  I,  179. 

—41- 


written  by  Peter  Hausted,  M.  A.,  was  performed  in  Queen's 
College,  Cambridge.  It  was  printed  in  1633,  and  among  the 
commendatory  Latin  verses  prefixed  to  it  were  some  iambics 
by  Edward  King,  Milton's  acquaintance  of  Christ's. 

Roxana,  a  Latin  tragedy  written  about  1592  by  the  poet 
William  Alabaster,  fellow  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  was 
based  on  Seneca  as  a  model,  and  was  much  admired  during 
the  following  century.  In  1632  a  surreptitious  edition  of  the 
play  was  published  and  in  the  same  year  the  author  issued  a 
correct  edition,  "a  plagiarii  unguibus  vindicata,  aucta  et 
agnita  ah  author e."^  Fuller  called  Alabaster  '*a  most  rare 
poet  as  any  our  age  and  nation  hath  produced;  witness  his 
tragedy  of  'Roxana',  admirably  acted  [in  Trinity  College]  and 
so  pathetically,  that  a  gentlewoman  present  thereat  (Reader, 
I  had  it  from  an  author  whose  credit  it  is  sin  with  me  to  sus- 
pect) ,  at  the  hearing  of  the  last  words  thereof,  sequar,  sequar, 
so  hideously  pronounced,  fell  distracted,  and  never  after 
fully  recovered  her  senses.  "^  The  fact  that  the  tragedy  is  a 
stiff  and  lifeless  work^  increases  the  humor  of  Fuller's  descrip- 
tion, but  shows  at  the  same  time  what  power  the  fashion  of 
Latin  had  on  the  minds  of  the  age. 

Abraham  Cowley,  who  was  the  author  of  numerous  Latin 
poems,  contributed  one  notable  play  to  the  academic  Latin 
drama.  This  was  the  famous  Naufragium  Jocidare,*  acted 
February  2,  1638,  by  the  members  of  his  college,  Trinity, 
Cambridge,  and  published  soon  after.  'It  obtained  its  celeb- 
rity through  the  boisterous  fun  of  a  scene  in  the  first  part  of 
the  play,  in  which  a  drunken  company  is  deluded  into  the 
belief  that  they  are  suffering  shipwreck  The  Latinity  of 
this  amusing  comedy  is  not  always  strictly  classical;  but  it 
abounds  in  quotations  bespeaking  the  learning  as  well  as  the 

•  Rescued  from  the  clutches  of  the  plagiarist,  enlarged  and  acknow- 
ledged by  the  author.     Diet.  Nat.  Biog. ,  sub  Stubbe. 
■i  Fuller's  Worthies,  III,  x85,  Nuttall's  ed. 
;i  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.,  .sii/>  Alabaster. 
'  A  joke  of  H  shipwreck.     Diet.  Nat.  Biog.,  xub  Cowley. 

—42— 


ready  wit  of  its  youthful  author;  and  shows  that  he  and  his 
contemporaries  at  Cambridge  well  understood  the  ars 
jocci  ndi. ' ' 

Perhaps  no  literary  production  shows  more  strikingly  the 
linguistic  and  classical  fashion  of  the  times  than  the  Latin 
comedy  entitled  Bellmn  Grammaticale  sive  Nominum  Verbo- 
rumque  Discordia  Civilis,'  which  was  written  by  one  Spense 
and  acted  before  Queen  Elizabeth  in  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
in  1592,  It  was  printed  and  perhaps  revived  at  the  Univer- 
sity in  1635.  "The  plot  turns  on  a  conflict  between  the  King 
of  Nouns  iPoeta)  and  the  King  of  Verbs  (Amo),  which  sets 
the  entire  province  of  Grammar  at  odds,  lets  loose  the  Gram- 
maticae  Pestes,  Solecismus,  Barbarismus,  Traulismus  and 
Cacatonus  to  range  at  their  own  sweet  will,  and  is  finally 
settled  by  the  intervention  of  Grammar,  Priscianus,  Linacrus, 
Despanterius,  and  Lillius.  The  application  of  grammatical 
definitions,  rules  and  maxims  to  the  supposed  action  is  very 
clever,  though  parallels  might  be  easily  adduced  from  con- 
temporary dramatic,  and  probably  other,  literature.  The 
doubtful  position  of  the  Duke  Participiitm,  who  owes  a  kind  of 
double  allegiance,  is  specially  happy.  The  sentences  ulti- 
mately pronounced  by  the  judges  quibble  after  the  same 
delectable  fashion."'' 

With  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  and  the  rise  of  the 
Puritan  power  the  drama  in  the  Universities  suffered  the 
same  fate  as  in  England  at  large;  but  with  the  Restoration 
both  English  and  Latin  plays  returned  in  full  force  to  the 
academic  stage. ^ 

The  literary  use  of  Latin  in  the  seventeenth  century 
brought  forth  its  most  abundant  fruit  in  academic  poetry.  The 
fashion  of  celebrating  notable  public  events  in  verse  kept  the 
students  busy,  for  the  marriages,  births,  deaths,  arrivals, 
departures,  recoveries  from  illness  among  royalty  and  nobility, 
which  were  the  proper  occasions  for  verse-making,  followed 


1  Ward's  English  Drama,  III,  187. 

2  The  grammatical  war,  or  civil  strife  between  nouns  and  verbs 

3  Ward's  English  Drama,  III,  187,  and  footnote. 

4  Encyc.  Brit.  11th  ed.,  sub  Drama. 

—43- 


one  another  at  close  intervals  from  season  to  season.  When 
events  to  be  sung  happened  at  about  the  same  time,  as,  for 
example,  the  death  of  one  king  and  the  accession  of  another, 
a  volume  of  poetry  may  have  celebrated  both  events,  and  so 
at  times  the  muses  wore  the  mingled  garb  of  mourning  and 
festivity.  The  volumes  lamenting  the  deaths  of  James  I,  in 
1625,  and  Oliver  Cromwell  in  1658.  contained  felicitations  for 
their  respective  successors:  a  Ltictiis  followed  by  a  Gratulatio, 
a  Dolor  in  company  with  a  Solamen. 

To  such  collections  of  commemorative  verse  contributions 
were  made  not  only  by  students  but  even  by  provosts  and 
heads  of  Colleges,  the  whole  trained  capacity  of  academic 
scholarship  exercising  itself  in  Latin  poesy.  The  number  of 
contributors  from  the  various  Colleges  to  the  making  of  a 
volume  sometimes  ran  up  to  many  scores  For  instance,  the 
Cambridge  collection  on  the  birth  of  Princess  Anne  in  1637 
counted  140  separate  names  of  authors,  among  them  Abra- 
ham Cowley  and  Andrew  Marvell.  ^  One  can  imagine  the  pass- 
ing of  the  word  from  man  to  man,  and  from  group  to  group, 
in  hall  and  court  of  the  great  schools,  concerning  a  new  poetic 
event;  and  student  rivalling  student  for  the  invention  of  fine 
classic  phrases,  and  University  challenging  University  in  the 
expression  of  a  nation's  joy  or  grief.  It  was  a  duty  that 
learning  owed  to  its  great  patrons,  to  make  on  every  possible 
occasion  an  offering  of  its  finest  product  to  their  honor  and 
pleasure. 

It  w^ill  suffice  to  bring  into  view  a  representative  number 
of  the  most  interesting  collections  of  academic  Latin  poetry, 
and  in  doing  this  w^e  shall  follow,  for  the  most  part  in  chrono- 
logical order,  the  achievements  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, understanding  at  the  same  time  that  Oxford  was  no 
less  zealous  in  such  compositions  and  publications. 

During  his  life  and  reign  James  I  had  the  lion's  share  of 
eulogy  and  flattery  from  the  poets  and  orators  of  Cambridge, 
and  in  his  death  he  was  not  neglected.  The  collection  of 
Greek  and  Latin  verses  in  praise  of  the  departed  sovereign 

1  Masson  I,  512. 

-44— 


and  in  congratulation  of  his  successor  was  entitled:  Can- 
tabrigiensium  Dolor  et  Solamen,  seu  Decessio  Beati^simi  Regis 
Jacobi  Pacijici  et  Successio  Augustissimi  Regis  Caroli  Magnae 
Britamiiae,  Galliae  &  Hibemiae  Monarchae.^  In  this  same 
year  the  new  king  was  married,  and  the  second  volume  of 
congratulatory  verse  came  forth  to  meet  him.  It  was  entitled : 
''Epithalamiiim  Rlicstris.  &  Feliciss.  Principum  Caroli  Regis 
et  H.  Mariae  Reginae  Magnae  Britanniae  &c.,  a  Miisis  Can- 
tabrigiensibtis  decantatum.^ 

The  suspense  concerning  Charles's  marriage  was  thus  at 
last  settled.  The  muses  had  been  disappointed  in  1623,  when 
Charles  the  Prince  made  his  romantic  journey  with  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham  to  woo  the  Spanish  Infanta:  he  came  back 
without  a  bride,  and  all  the  University  poets  could  do  was  to 
publish  a  collection  of  thanksgiving  verses  on  his  safe  return, 
the  grand  title  being  :  "Gratidatio  academiae  Cantabrigien- 
sis  de  Serenissimi  Principis  reditu  ex  Hispaniis  exoptatissimo; 
quam  Augustissimo  Regi  Jacobo  Celsissimoq.  Principi  Carolo 
ardentissimi  sui  voti  testimonium  esse  voluit."^ 

The  birth  of  Prince  Charles  (the  second)  on  May  29, 1630, 
would  have  occasioned  joy  among  the  poets  had  not  the  plague 
at  that  time  already  enforced  vacation  at  the  University. 
Before  the  end  of  April  the  students  broke  and  fled,  and  the 
only  record  left  for  the  future  historian  was,  Grassante  peste, 


1  The  grief  and  consolation  of  the  Cantabrigians,  or,  The  departure  of 
the  most  blessed  King  James  the  Pacific  and  the  succession  of  the  most 
august  King  Charles,  monarch  of  Great  Britain,  France  and  Ireland. — 
Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  176. 

2  Hymn  on  the  marriage  of  the  most  illustrious  and  happy  sovereigns 
Charles  King  and  Henrietta  Maria  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  &c. ,  sung  by 
the  muses  of  Cambridge.     Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  178. 

•^  Gratulations  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  on  the  dearly  longed- 
for  return  of  the  most  serene  Prince  Charles  from  Spain;  as  an  evidence 
to  the  most  august  King  James  and  the  most  high  Prince  Charles  of  the 
University's  most  ardent  devotion.     Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  161. 

—45- 


nulla  piihlica  comitia.^  It  was  not  till  November,  1631,  when 
a  new  child  was  born  in  the  royal  family,  that  the  muses 
appropriately  remembered  the  young  prince  of  the  preceding 
year,  by  celebrating  in  a  single  volume  the  births  of  both  the 
children.  The  collection  was  entitled:  Genethliacum  Rlus- 
trissimorum  Principum  Caroli  et  Mariae  a  Miisis  Canta- 
brigiensibus  celebratum.'  Among  the  contributors  were 
Edward  King,  and  the  future  wit  and  historian,  Thomas 
Fuller. 

The  other  children  of  Charles  I  and  Henrietta  Maria  were 
welcomed  in  order  by  the  faithful  bards.  The  title  to  the 
volume  commemorating  the  birth  of  the  Duke  of  York,  after- 
wards James  I,  on  October  14,  1633,  was:  Ducis  Eboracen- 
sis  Fasciae  a  Musis  Cantabrigiensibus  raptim  contextae.^  Ed- 
ward King  was  again  contributor,  and  the  name  of  Richard 
Crashaw,  of  Pembroke  Hall,  appeared  among  the  busy  muses. 
These  two,  and  Henry  More  of  Christ's  College,  assisted  in 
bringing  out  a  volume  on  the  birth  of  Princess  Elizabeth, 
December,  1635;  and  again  on  the  birth  of  Princess  Anne, 
March  17,  1637.  These  collections  celebrating  the  young 
princesses  were  more  elaborately  entitled  than  that  on  the 
Duke  of  York,  and  instead  of  an  apology  for  hurry  there  is 
an  expression  of  the  most  complete  and  gallant  devotion.  The 
first  volume  was  called:  Carmen  Natalium  ad  CuTias  illus- 
trissimae  Principis  Elisabethae  decantatum  intra  Nativitatis 
Dom.  sollemnia  per  humillimas  Cantabrigiae  Musas/    The 

1  The  violence  of  the  plague  prevents  all  public  exercises.  Masson 
I,  170. 

■2  Birth-day  celebration  for  the  most  illustrious  Prince  and  Princess 
Charles  and  Mary,  by  the  muses  of  Cambridge.  Cooper's  Cambridge, 
III,  244;  Masson  I,  511. 

3  Wreaths  hastily  woven  by  the  muses  of  Cambridge,  for  the  Duke 
of  York.     Cooper's  Cambridge,  1 1 1,  263. 

4  Natal  song  at  the  cradle  of  the  most  illustrious  Princess  Elizabeth, 
sung  during  the  birth-day  festivities,  by  the  most  humble  muses  of  Cam- 
bridge.    Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  263. 

-46- 


effusion  on  the  birth  of  Princess  Anne  carried  the  classical 
enthusiasm  to  a  grand  climax;  -'r/ojoj^  sive  Musarum 
Co ntabrigiensium  concentus  et  Congratulatio  ad  serenissimum 
Brifanniaru7n  Recjem  Carolum  de  quintasua  snibole  darissima 
Principe  sibi  nuper  felicissime  nata  '  Nothing  could  attest 
more  strikingly  the  University  attachments  to  royalty  than 
these  learned  exultations,  one  after  the  other,  on  the  birth 
of  the  King's  children.  One  marks  the  absence  of  Milton's 
name  from  the  collections  which  applauded  anything  con- 
nected with  Charles  I,  and  it  is  a  wonder  that  he  later  so 
greatly  honored  Edward  King,  whose  regular  contributions 
to  these  outbursts  of  loyalty  were  always  extravagant  and 
never  very  poetic. 

In  1640  the  last  son  was  born  to  King  Charles  and  Queen 
Henrietta  Maria,  that  is  Prince  Henry,  afterwards  Duke  of 
Gloucester  and  Earl  of  Cambridge.  The  University  responded 
with  her  usual  congratulations;  Richard  Crashaw  and  Henry 
More  again  contributing,  but  the  ill-fated  Edward  King's 
name  no  longer  appearing.  In  June,  1644,  Henrietta,  the 
last  child  of  the  King  and  Queen,  was  born  at  Exeter  in  the 
midst  of  war.  There  was  no  celebration  to  be  expected  any 
more  from  Cambridge:  early  in  the  year  the  stern  Puritan 
parliament  had  sent  up  a  committee  to  visit  and  purge  the 
malignant  University.  The  result  was  the  ejection  of  about 
half  the  Fellows,  and  of  eleven  out  of  sixteen  Heads  of 
Houses.-  All  the  Latin  poetical  talent  that  remained  in  Cam- 
bridge by  June,  1644,  when  the  Queen's  daughter  was  born, 
had  other  fields  for  its  exercise  than  Royalist  birth-days. 

When  Cromwell  assumed  the  sovereignty  of  England,  he 
and  his  concerns  became  the  objects  of  celebration  at  the 
hands  of  the  poets.  His  death  at  last  and  the  succession  of 
his  son  Richard  in  1658  called  forth  from  Cambridge  a  volume 

1  Unison,  or  Concordant  Congratulation  of  the  Muses  of  Cambridge 
to  the  most  serene  Charles,  King  of  Britain,  on  the  recent  most  happy 
birth  of  his  fifth  most  illustrious  child.     Cooper's  Cambridge  III,  286. 

2  Masson  III,  92. 

—47— 


entitled:  Musarum  Cantabrigiensium  Luctus  &  Gratulatio: 
Ille  infunere  Oliverii  Angliae  Scotiae  &  Hiberniae  Protectoris 
Haec  de  Ricardi  Successione  felicissiina  ad  eundem.^  There 
was  no  doubt  some  degree  of  sincerity  in  those  dirges  and 
greetings,  for  at  that  time  not  even  the  bards  could  predict 
what  the  next  two  years  had  in  store  for  the  country.  But 
when  the  Restoration  came,  the  muses  of  the  University 
rejoiced,  and  proclaimed  that  the  coming  back  of  Charles 
restored  them  also  to  their  former  happy  fortunes.  Their 
celebration  bore  the  title:  Academiae  Cantabrigiensis 
IdxTTfia  sive  ad  Carolum  II  reducem,  deregnis  ipsi,  Musis  per 

ipsum  feliciter  restitutis  Gratulatio."^  From  that  time  forth 
loyalty  in  University  verses  flourished  again  as  in  the  palmy 
days  of  James  I  and  Charles  I. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  volume  of  academic  poetry 
issued  during  the  century  was  that  on  the  death  of  Edward 
King  in  1637.  The  chief  interest  rises  from  the  fact  that 
Milton's  Lycidas  was  one  of  the  contributions,  though  the 
poet  himself  had  been  out  of  the  University  for  five  years. 
King,  who,  according  to  Milton,  "knew  himself  to  sing  and 
build  the  lofty  rhyme,"  had  between  1631  and  1637  written 
Latin  iambics,  elegiacs,  or  Horatian  stanzas  for  no  less  than 
six  volumes  of  college  poetry.  When  the  young  scholar  and 
poet  was  lost  at  sea  in  1637,  his  alma  mater  published  in  his 
memory  a  little  collection  of  sixty  pages.  The  first  thirty- 
five  pages  were  occupied  by  three  Greek  and  twenty  Latin 

pieces  p.re.fixed  with  the  title:  Ju^ta  Evardo  King  Naufrago 
ah   arrncis    ynoerentibus,    amorts  et    iivsia-^  ydfv.,)^-i    'The 


1  Lamentation  and  rejoicing  of  the  Cambridge  Muses:  the  former  on 
the  funeral  of  Oliver  Protector  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland;  the 
latter  on  the  most  happy  succession  of  Richard  to  the  same  power.  Coop- 
er's Cambridge  III,  469. 

2  Thankott'ering  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  or  greeting  of  joy 
to  Charles  1 1  on  his  safe  return  to  his  kingdom  and  on  his  restoring  the 
muses  to  their  former  happy  state.     Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  480-1. 

'■'•  Obsequies  to  Edward  King,  lost  at  sea:  a  memorial  of  affection 
from  his  sorrowing  friends.     Masson  I,  513,  ff. 

-48— 


remainder  of  the  volume,  separately  paged,  bore  the  title: 
Obsequies  to  the  Memorie  of  Edward  King,  anno  Dom.  1638. 
Milton's  poem  was  the  last  piece  in  the  volume.  Why,  one 
might  here  inquire,  did  Milton  write  Lycidas  in  English,  in 
honor  of  Edward  King,  no  very  intimate  friend;  and  later 
choose  Latin  for  EpitapJuum  Damonis,  to  celebrate  the  dearest 
friendship  he  ever  enjoyed?  The  probable  reason  was  that 
in  Lycidas  he  had  a  present  message  for  the  people  of  Eng- 
land, too  urgent  and  vital  to  be  clothed  in  academic  formality 
and  narrowed  to  scholarly  seclusion;  while  in  Epitaphium 
Damonis  his  private  sorrow  inevitably  mingled  with  all  those 
happy  classical  associations  that  had  bound  the  student-life 
of  Milton  and  Diodati  together. 

Not  all  the  Latin  poetry  composed  at  the  Universities 
appeared  in  collections.  Volumes  by  single  authors  were 
sometimes  brought  forth  like  the  Epigrammatuw.  Sacrorum 
Liber'^  of  Richard  Crashaw,  of  Pembroke  Hall,  Cambridge, 
in  1634.  Much  of  the  academic  production  never  appeared  in 
print  at  all,  and  it  is  impossible  to  measure  the  amount  of  Latin 
versifying  actually  achieved  by  thousands  of  students  whose 
chief  concern  was  with  words  and  rhetoric.  So  truly  had  the 
ancient  language  become  alive  and  modern  in  the  Universities 
that  it  wound  itself  in  and  around  all  the  concerns  of  life 
there,  and  was  as  much  a  part  of  the  mental  habit  as  the 
academic  dress  was  of  rites  and  ceremonies. 

Though  Milton's  name  does  not  appear  in  the  Cambridge 
collections  of  verses,  his  Latin  pen  was  not  idle  during  his 
University  career.  There  remains  of  what  he  produced  in 
those  years  seven  pieces  composing  the  Book  of  Elegies 
{Elegiarum  Liber),  published  in  1645  by  Humphrey  Mosely  in 
London  Since  their  publication  was  neither  in  the  University 
nor  during  the  author's  residence  there,  they  may  be  treated 
as  extra-academic  poetry  and  will  receive  detailed  attention 
under  a  subsequent  section. 

Besides  the  reading  of  Latin  books  in  the  regular  cur- 

1  Die,  Nat.  Biop:. ,  sub  Crashaw. 

—49— 


ricula,  besides  the  Latin  responsions,  opponencies,  orations, 
the  graces,  the  dramas,  and  poems,  there  were  in  the  Uni- 
versity hfe  various  nooks  which  the  language  filled,  sug- 
gestively indicating  how  the  fashion  of  the  time  went.  It 
was  an  early  statute  of  Cambridge  that  required  the  students 
to  converse  in  Latin,  Greek,  or  Hebrew,  except  during  hours 
of  relaxation  in  their  rooms.'  This  severe  regulation  had  nat- 
urally, without  vigilant  enforcement,  broken  with  its  own 
strain;  but  in  July,  1649,  when  the  parliamentary  committee 
for  regulating  the  University  of  Cambridge  issued  their 
decrees,  they  ordered  that  Latin  or  Greek  should  be  con- 
stantly used  in  familiar  intercourse  in  the  several  col- 
leges -  This  new  command  probably  received  fair  obedience 
during  the  next  eleven  years  of  complete  Puritan  sway. 

Public  prayers  were  in  Latin  as  the  traditional  language 
of  the  Christian  church.  In  1625  when  King  James  died  the 
prayers  had  to  be  changed  to  specify  yegem  Carolum  instead 
of  regeyn  Jacobum.  There  is  a  story  of  a  bachelor  of  Christ's, 
Cambridge,  who  in  public  prayer  was  so  attentive  to  the 
proper  words  that  when  he  came  to  the  psalm  phrase  '  'God 
of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob",  he  turned  Dens  Jacobi  to 
Deus  Caroli,  and  paused  horror-struck  at  his  impious  blunder. 

Conferences  of  students  with  tutors  were  carried  on  in 
the  learned  tongue.  It  was  not  necessary  in  every  case  that 
this  severe  formality  prevented  hearty  and  genial  intercourse. 
Joseph  Meade,  fellow  in  Christ's  during  Milton's  residence, 
met  his  students  on  equal  basis  and  in  friendly  communion. 
His  habit  when  they  came  to  his  room,  of  an  evening,  was  to 
ask  them  first  the  question.  Quid  dubitas?'-^  He  would  then 
resolve  their  doubts  [quaeres),  and  at  the  dose  of  the  confer- 
ence "by  prayer  commended  them  and  their  studies  to  God's 
protection  and  blessing,  and  dismissed  them  to  their  lodging. " 

Conferences  of  any  formal  nature  between  students  and 
Heads  of  Colleges  observed  the   language   of   dignity   and 

1  Masson  I,  96-7. 

a  Cooper's  Cambridj^e  III,  429;  cf  Laudian  Code,    Appendix,    Statuta 
Aularia,  Sec.  IV,  §4. 

:t  Whal  dou!)ts  have  you  mot  with?     Masson  I,  88. 

-50- 


authority.  The  sanctity  of  an  oath  or  pledge  was  more  solemn 
when  clothed  in  Latin.  It  was  told  of  one  Mr.  Fawcett,  who 
was  charged  with  having  uttered  in  some  public  act  an  opinion 
contrary  to  accepted  doctrines,  that  when  he  went  to  commence 
bachelor  in  Divinity,  in  June,  1626,  the  Vice-chancellor,  Dr. 
Gostlin,  and  his  assistants  required  satisfaction  for  the 
church  by  securing  Mr.  Fawcett's  hand  to  the  following 
declaration:  Sola  scripturarum  lectio  secundum  ritum  Angli- 
ca)'um  est  medium  ordiiiarie  sufficiens  adfidem  generandam. 
Huic  propositioni  luhens  et  ex  animo subscripsi,  et  revera  num- 
quam  o.liter  tenuis  The  offensive  utterances  had  been  made 
in  Latin,  and  it  was  fitting  to  disavow  their  ill  meaning  in  the 

same  language. 

When  Anthony  Wood,  the  future  historian  of  his  alma 
mater,  entered  Oxford  in  1647,  he  found  the  initiation  of 
Freshmen  at  Christmas  was  by  setting  them  down  "on  a 
form  in  the  middle  of  the  hall,  joining  to  the  declaiming 
desk,"  and  requiring  each  in  turn  to  speak  some  jest  or  elo- 
quent nonsense.  They  were  then  admitted  into  the  fra- 
ternity by  the  senior  cook's  administering  the  oath  in  Latin 
over  an  old  shoe.- 

The  language  had  to  be  used  on  occasion  even  by  men 
who  were  embarrassed  and  fearful  of  showing  weakness  in 
scholarship,  in  range  of  vocabulary,  or  in  manner  of  pro- 
nunciation. The  refuge  was  in  the  fewest  and  safest  w^ords: 
it  was  better  to  bear  the  reproach  of  little  Latin,  as  Shaks- 
peare  did,  than  of  no  Latin  at  all.  Meade,  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend  describing  the  Duke  of  Buckingham's  first  visit  as 
Chancellor  to  Cambridge,  mentioned  lightly  the  contrast 
between  the  Duke's  gorgeous  apparel  and  scanty  speech: 
"Our  Chancellor",  he  wrote,  "sat  on  Sunday  in  the  Regent 
House  in  a  Master  of  Art's  gown,  habit,  cap  and  hood;  spoke 
two  words  of  Latin— 'Placet'  and  'Admittatur'."=' 

1  The  simple  reading  of  the  Scriptures  according  to  the  Anglican  rit- 
ual is  ordinarily  a  sufficient  means  for  the  begetting  of  faith.  To  this 
proposition  I  freely  and  heartily  subscribe,  and  in  very  truth  I  never  did 
believe  differently.     Heywood's  Cambridge  1 1,  348. 

2  Wood's  Athenae  I,  p.  XIV. 

3  Masson  I,  129. 

—51— 


If  any  one,  student,  fellow,  or  master,  happened  to  be 
inspired  with  any  new  conceit  or  combination  of  Latin  words, 
it  was  his  glory  to  make  his  invention  known  to  the  admiring 
academic  world.  For  example,  in  March,  1623,  while  King 
James  was  at  Cambridge  hearing  speeches  and  a  comedy,  an 
orator  made  an  epigram  which  Dr.  Richardson  brought  to  be 
read  before  the  King  at  dinner.  Meade  tells  the  story  with 
delight  in  a  letter,  and  mentions  that  he  had  difficulty  in  get- 
ting the  last  two  lines.     The  epigram  is  as  follows: 

Dum  petit  infantem  princeps,  Grantamque  Jacobus, 

Cujusnam  major  sit  duhitatur  amor. 
Vicit  more  suo  noster,  nam  millihus  infaiis 

Non  tot  abest  quot  nos  regis  ab  ingenio.^ 

What  could  be  more  suggestive  of  the  classical  fashion 
of  the  schools  than  the  following  account  of  the  reception  of 
King  Charles  and  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  at  Cambridge 
March  22,  1631.  "The  Schollers  Bachellors  Fellow  Common- 
ers Regents  &  Non  Regents  were  placed  in  the  Streets  in 
like  manner  as  they  were  when  K.  James  came  hither  in 
March  1622.  They  made  a  great  Acclamation  as  the  K.  &  Q. 
passed  by  them,  saying,  "Vivat  Rex,  Vivat  Regina,  &c." 
Whatever  Charles  I  thought  of  it,  to  old  King  James  the 
cries  of  jubilee  in  Latin  must  have  been  the  dearest  evidences 
of  loyalty  and  learning. - 

1  Heywood's  Cambridge  II,  315.  Also  Harleian  Miscll.  X.  163-4, 
where  the  epigram  is  included  in  a  Latin  oration  and  translation  given: 

"While  prince  to  Spain,  and    king    to    Cambridge    goes. 
The  question  is,  whose  love  the  greater  shows: 
Ours  (like  himself)  o'ercomes;  for  his  wit's  more 
Remote  from  ours,  than  Spain  from  Britain's  shore." 
The  reference  is  to  Charles's  wooing  the  Spanish  Infanta. 

2  A  contemporary  account  quoted  in  Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  249-59. 
Mentioned  also  in  Masson,  I,  186. 


-52- 


SECTION  II. 

LATIN  AS  AN  INTERNATIONAL  LANGUAGE. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Latin  in  Official  Correspondence. 

The  one  high  service  which  Latin  alone  was  able  to  per- 
form was  correspondence  between  the  English  and  the 
foreign  courts.  The  vulgar  tongues  were  not  recognized  as 
equal  to  this  great  task,  being  intrinsically  inadequate  and 
not  sufficiently  well-known  and  honored  outside  of  their 
respective  countries.  With  one  consent  the  language  of 
learning,  which  was  thoroughly  understood  in  all  the  cultured 
nations  and  supremely  respected  for  its  long  career  of  service 
in  the  world,  maintained  its  hold  upon  communication 
between  England  and  her  continental  neighbors.  The  letters 
passing  from  James  I,  Charles  I,  and  the  Commonwealth  and 
Protectorate  to  foreign  courts  appear  generally  in  Latin. 

The  office  of  translating  outgoing  papers  into  Latin  and 
incoming  papers  into  English  was  assigned  to  a  clerk  or 
undersecretary,  some  capable  and  diligent  scholar  who  was 
willing  to  give  his  learning  to  his  country  for  a  small  recom- 
pense and  for  the  chance  of  preferment  to  a  more  honorable 
and  remunerative  position.  From  1G24  to  1641  the  under- 
secretary of  state  in  this  capacity  was  Georg  Rudolph  Wech- 
erlin,  born  in  1584  in  Germany  and  educated  at  the  University 
of  Tubingen,  and  introduced  into  England  probably  in  con- 
nection with  a  German  ambassador.  His  skill  in  various 
languages,  ancient  and  modern,  and  his  service  as  private 
secretary  to  the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg  recommended  him  for 
a  position  in  the  English  state  department,  and  he  was 
accordingly  employed  in  drafting,  deciphering,  and  translating 
official  correspondence.     On  the  breaking  out  of   the  Civil 

—53— 


War,  Wecherlin  took  sides  with  Parliament,  and  in  February, 
1644,  he  was  made  "secretary  for  foreign  tongues"  to  the 
joint  committee  of  the  two  kingdoms,  at  the  annual  salary  of 
2881.  13s.  6hd.  Under  Charles  I  he  had  complained  of  his 
poor  pay,  but  his  income  under  Parliament  probably  satisfied 
him.  He  held  the  post  until  he  was  superseded  by  Milton  in 
1649,  upon  the  establishment  of  the  republic  and  the  consti- 
tution of  a  council  of  state.  The  reason  for  replacing  him 
was  probably  due  to  his  advanced  age,  and  the  importance 
which  his  office  was  about  to  assume  under  the  Common- 
wealth. ' 

Before  entering  upon  a  description  of  Milton's  duties  and 
performances  as  Foreign  Secretary  we  shall  take  a  glance  at 
several  foreign  transactions  of  James  I  and  Charles  I.  In 
March,  1621,  the  famous  Spanish  Match  had  its  beginning  in  a 
Latin  letter  from  James  of  England  to  the  new  King  Philip 
IV  of  Spain.  The  message  contained  a  proposal  for  a  mar- 
riage between  Prince  Charles,  James's  son  and  heir,  and 
Philip's  youngest  sister,  the  most  illustrious  Infanta,  the  Lady 
Maria  (Illustrissimam  Infantem  Dominam  Mariam) ;-  and 
was  carried  abroad  by  Lord  Digby,  extraordinary  ambas- 
sador. Later  Prince  Charles,  in  company  with  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  followed  with  proposals  in  person,  but  after 
much  excitement  and  expectation  on  the  part  of  the  English 
people  he  came  back  without  the  "most  illustrious  lady." 

The  correspondence  on  this  affair  was  carried  on  in  Latin 
not  only  by  James  and  Philip,  but  also  between  the  English 
King  and  Prince  and  the  Roman  See.  Both  Gregory  XV  and 
Urban  VIII,  his  successor  in  1623,  hoped  that  England  might 
yet  be  induced  to  forget  the  past  and  return  to  the  Catholic 
fold,  and  the  possible  marriage  between  the  English  Prince 
and  a  Spanish  Princess  encouraged  that  expectation.  This 
effort  to  conciliate  the  English  was  the  last  work  of  Gregory, 
who  died  in  July  of  that  year;  and  his  correspondence  on  the 
subject  was  promptly  taken  up  by  Urban  VIII.  These  let- 
ters between  England  and  Rome  were  in  Latin. '^     Well  might 


1  Diet.  Nat.  Bio}2f.  sab  Wecherlin,  and  Masson,  passim. 
,3  Rushworth  I,  67-8.     :'  Rushworth  I,  SO  ff. 

—54- 


the  Popes  have  had  reason  to  think  that  all  mankind's  religion 
should  center  at  their  palace,  situated  as  it  was  in  the  eternal 
city  whose  language  still  had  power  to  bind  the  whole  civilized 
world  into  one  brotherhood. 

James  I  was  not  a  king  of  power,  who  made  the  name  of 
England  dreadful  among  the  nations  of  the  world,  but  he 
recognized  no  superior  in  any  form  of  ceremony  wherein 
learning  or  language  could  play  a  role.  His  addresses  to 
foreign  kings  may  have  been  insignificant  in  the  messages 
conveyed,  but  the  style  lacked  nothing  of  imposing  loftiness. 
For  example,  in  1623,  when  Francis  Klein,  a  German,  who 
had  come  to  England  from  Denmark  as  a  designer  of  tapestry, 
was  returning,  James  gave  him  a  letter  to  the  king  of  Den- 
mark requesting  permission  for  Klein's  early  return  to  Eng- 
land. It  was  a  simple  request,  but  nevertheless  a  splendid 
opportunity  for  a  Latin  exercise,  which  began  as  follows: 

Jacobus,  Dei  gratia  Magnae  Br'itanniae,  Franciae,  et 
Hiberniae  Rex,  Fidei  Defensor,  Serenissimo  Principi  ac 
Domino  Christiano  Quarto,  eadem  gratia  Daniae,  Norvegiae, 
Vandalorum,  et  Gothorum  regi,  duel  Slesrici,  Holsatiae, 
Stormariae,  et  Ditmarsiae,  comiti  in  Oldenburg  et  Delmen- 
horsh,  fratri,  compatri,  consanguineo.  et  affini  nostro  charis- 
simo,  salutem,  et  felicitatem,  serenissimus  princeps,  compa- 
ter,  consanguineus,  et  affinis  charissimus. 

Cum  Franciscus  Klein,  &c.^ 

Then  follows  the  body  of  the  letter  occupying  a  some- 
what larger  space  than  the  greeting  itself. 

A  few  years  earlier,  when  the  States  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces called  a  national  synod  at  Dort  for  the  consideration  of 
religious  doctrines,  and  desired  certain  foreign  princes  to 
send  the  assistance  of  their  respective  divines.  King  James, 
being  thus  solicited,  heartily  complied;  and  he  fully  under- 


1  To  the  most  serene  prince  and  ruler  Christian  IV,  King  of  Denmark, 
Norway,  of  the  v^andals  and  Goths,  Duke  of  Sleswick,  Holsatia,  Storma- 
tia,  and  Ditmarsh,  Count  of  Oldenburg  and  Delmenhorsh,  brother,  fellow- 
descendant,  dearest  relative  by  blood  and  marriage,  greeting  and  felici- 
tation from  James,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  Great  Britain.  France, 
and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  most  serene  prince,  brother,  and 
dearest  relative.     Since  Francis  Klein,  &c.  Fuller's  Worthies,  III,  201-2. 

—55— 


stood  the  responsibility  resting  upon  his  representatives  to 
the  learned  assembly.  He  summoned  from  the  English  clergy 
four  scholars,  who  came  to  his  presence  for  appointment  and 
instructions,  and  received  at  New  Market,  among  other 
advice  and  directions,  the  following  in  particular: 

"Our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  from  this  time  forward, 
upon  all  occasions,  you  inure  yourself  to  the  practice  of  the 
Latin  tongue,  that  when  there  is  cause  you  may  deliver  your 
minds  with  more  readiness  and  felicity." 

The  divines  had  leisure  for  this  prescribed  practice  before 
the  opening  of  the  synod,  November  3,  1618.  They  then 
went  to  Dort  and  participated  in  the  celebrated  discussions. 
Before  the  synod  closed,  Bishop  John  Hall,  one  of  the  English 
representatives,  was  compelled  to  return  home  by  reason  of 
ill-health,  and  publicly  took  his  farewell  in  a  Latin  speech 
which  showed  that  he  had  obeyed  the  command  of  his  king. 
When  the  proceedings  terminated  in  April,  1619,  the  States- 
General,  in  a  long  Latin  letter  to  "serenissimus  Rex",  com- 
mented on  the  recent  transactions,  and  commended  King 
James's  learned  and  pious  representatives.^ 

Latin  was  also  employed  not  only  in  letters  to  particular 
princes  and  courts,  but  also  in  declarations  and  manifestoes 
for  the  world  at  large.  For  instance,  in  1644,  when  Charles 
I  was  embarrassed  by  the  imputation  of  favoring  and  cher- 
ishing Catholics  and  the  Catholic  religion,  and  wished  to  set 
himself  clear  before  the  whole  world,  he  issued  a  Latin  letter 
declaring  against  the  false  rumor  that  he  had  any  intention 
to  recede  from  the  orthodox  religion  and  introduce  popery 
into  England.  The  declaration  was  properly  in  Latin,  to  reach 
all  nations  equally  and  to  command  respect  wherever  it  went. 
It  opened  as  follows:  Caroliis  slug  alar  i  Omni  pot  f  nils  Dei 
Providentia  Angliae,  Scotiae  Franciae  &  Hiberniae  Rex,  Fidei 
Dejensor,  &c.,  Universis  &  Singidis  qui  praescns  hoc  Scrip- 
turn  seu  Protestationem  inspexerint,  potissimum  Rcformatae 
Religionis  Cultoribv^  cujuscunque  sint  gentis,  gradus,  autcon- 

1  Fuller,  Church  History,  III.  308  ff.     Nichols'  Edition. 

-56- 


ditionis',  Sjlntcm.^  The  letter  was  sent  forth  from  Oxford, 
where  the  court  sat,  and  was  dated  May  14,  1G44  ipridie  Idas 
Mali).  Charles  I  never  showed  any  fondness  for  Latin  or  dis- 
play of  learning-,  as  did  his  royal  father,  and  it  was  only  when 
custom  and  utility  demanded  it  that  he  preferred  the  ancient 
language  to  the  vernacular.  This  proclamation  of  1644  cer- 
tainly seemed  to  him  and  his  court  to  require  the  most  accept- 
able and  far-reaching  medium  possible. 

Foreign  relations  came  into  greater  prominence  in  Eng- 
land during  the  Commonwealth  period,  especially  under  the 
Protectorate  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  it  was  then  that  Latin 
in  official  correspondence  assumed  special  dignity  and  power. 
In  1649,  soon  after  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  the  Council  of 
State  for  the  new  government  appointed  a  committee  "to  con- 
sider what  alliances  this  crown  hath  formerly  had  with  For- 
eign States  and  what  those  States  are,  and  whether  it  will  be  fit 
to  continue  those  alliances,  and  with  how  many  of  the  said 
States,  and  how  far  they  should  be  continued,  and  upon  what 
grounds,  and  in  what  manner  applications  and  addresses 
should  be  made  for  the  said  continuance."  The  same  com- 
mittee was  further  instructed  "to  speak  with  Mr.  Milton,  to 
know  whether  he  will  be  employed  as  Secretary  for  the 
Foreign  Tongues,  and  to  report  to  the  Council."- 

Milton's  name  was  not  unknown  among  the  Parliament- 
arians. P'rom  1641  he  had  been  busy  with  his  pen  in  urging 
reforms  in  church  and  government,  and  his  Tenure  of  Kings 
and  Magistrates  had  boldly  defended  the  justice  and  legality 
of  Charles  I's  trial  and  execution.  His  learning,  his  political 
views,  and  active  sympathy,  conspired  to  recommend  his 
services  as  Foreign  Secretary,  and  when  he  was  approached 
by  the  proper  committee,  he  assented  to  the  proposal  they 
were  instructed  to  make.     On  March  15,  1649,  the  Council  of 


1  Charles  by  the  singular  providence  of  God  King  of  England,  Scot 
land.  France  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c. ,  to  one  and  all  who 
shall  read  this  writing  or  protestation,  and  especially  to  the  followers  of 
the  reformed  religion,  of  whatsoever  nation,  rank,  or  condition  they  are, 
Greeting.     Rushworth,     V,  752-4. 

-  Masson  IV,  79. 

—57— 


State  ordered  "That  Mr.  John  Milton  be  employed  as  Secre- 
tary for  Foreign  Tongues  to  this  Council,  and  that  he  have 
the  same  salary  which  Mr.  Wecherlyn  formerly  had  for  the 
same  service."  Five  days  later  the  new  secretary  was 
inducted  into  the  office  which  he  was  to  fill  and  adorn  for  the 
next  eleven  years. ' 

Milton's  duties  in  his  new  capacity  were  implied  in  his 
statute  title :  '  'Secretary  for  Foreign  Tongues  to  the  Council. ' ' 
(1)  He  was  to  translate  into  Latin,  the  letters,  dispatches, 
and  any  other  papers  addressed  by  the  English  Council  of 
State  to  any  foreign  prince,  minister,  or  council;  and  the 
declarations  and  manifestoes  issued  by  Parliament  and  Coun- 
cil for  notice  to  the  world  at  large.  (2)  He  was  to  put  into 
Latin  articles  of  prospective  treaties  under  discussion  in  Eng- 
land between  English  and  foreign  representatives,  or  com- 
missioners. (3)  He  was  to  translate  into  English  the  dis- 
patches in  Latin  or  other  languages  sent  to  the  Council  by 
foreign  sovereigns  or  ministers.  (4)  Occasionally  he  was 
ordered  to  be  present  at  conferences  with  foreign  representa- 
tives or  was  himself  to  confer  with  them  orally;  and  occa- 
sionally to  prepare  arguments  in  Latin  in  defense  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, for  circulation  among  foreign  countries. 

Milton's  services,  it  thus  appears,  were  at  the  direct 
command  of  the  Council  of  State,  and  had  to  do  with  any 
business  requiring  translation  to  or  from  any  foreign  language, 
or  composition  in  any  foreign  language.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  tasks  which  the  council  usually  assigned  him  had  to  do  in 
some  connection  or  other  with  Latin.  It  was,  for  the  most 
part,  his  orders  to  translate  an  English  dispatch  into  Latin,  a 
Latin  dispatch  into  English,  or  to  compose  an  original  Latin 
discourse  on  a  given  subject  or  occasion.  So  largely  did  his 
occupation  with  the  one  language  outweigh  that  with  any 
other,  that  he  was  frequently  called  simply  the  Lathi  Secre- 
tary, and  this  name  is  regularly  used  in  his  biographies. 

The  employment  of  a  man  of  independent  mind,  digni- 
fied character,  and  profound  learning  to  transact  the  duties 


1  Masson  IV,  82-83. 

-58- 


of  Latin  Secretary  shows  what  importance  the  Council  of 
State  attached  to  their  foreign  correspondence,  and  what 
esteem  they  felt  for  Latin  as  the  proper  medium.  "They 
stuck,"  says  Phillips,  the  nephew  of  Milton,  "to  the  noble 
and  generous  resolution  not  to  write  to  any,  or  receive  answers 
from  them,  but  in  a  language  the  most  proper  to  maintain  a 
correspondence  among  the  learned  of  all  nations  in  this  part 
of  the  world,  scorning  to  carry  on  their  affairs  in  the  wheed- 
ling, lisping  jargon  of  the  cringing  French,  especially  having 
a  Minister  of  Stateable  to  cope  with  the  ablest  any  Prince  or 
State  could  employ  for  the  Latin  tongue."' 

Neither  Parliament  nor  the  Council  of  State  nor  Crom- 
well ever  had  reason  to  question  the  industry  or  ability 
of  the  chosen  secretary.  He  appreciated  to  the  uttermost 
the  dignity  and  importance  of  his  office,  and  consecrated  his 
great  moral  and  intellectual  energy  to  his  appointed  tasks. 
For  two  years  he  seems  to  have  been  able  alone  to  perform 
all  the  translations;  but  in  March,  1652,  when  his  eyes  were 
giving  out,  Council  gave  him  the  assistance  of  old  Mr.  Wecher- 
lin,  the  former  Latin  Secretary.-  During  the  next  year,  1653, 
Wecherlin  was  succeeded  by  a  younger  man,  Mr.  Philip 
Meadows,  'employed  by  the  Council  in  Latin  translations, 
and  to  assist  in  the  despatch  of  foreign  affairs.  '-^  Meadows 
continued  in  this  office  till  1656,  when  he  was  sent  to  repre- 
resent  Cromwell  at  Lisbon.  In  the  following  year,  1657, 
Andrew  Marvell  was  appointed  Secretary  in  Foreign  Affairs, 
apparently  as  colleague  to  Milton.^  From  that  time  on  till  the 
eve  of  the  Restoration,  the  duties  of  Latin  Secretary  were 
shared  by  the  two  poet  friends,  Milton  and  Marvell. 

For  an  outgoing  letter,  addressed  by  the  Council  to  a 
foreign  state,  tlie  order  of  preparation  was  as  follows.  The 
Council  in  session,  having  any  foreign  communication  to 
make,  would  put  the  substance  of  the  matter  in  the  hands  of 


1  Quoted  by  Masson  IV,  86. 

2  Masson  IV,  425,  451. 

3  Masson  IV,  524,  526. 

4  Masson  V,  374-5,  402. 

-59- 


the  Foreign  Committee.  This  Committee,  at  a  later  meeting 
of  its  own,  would  prepare  in  English  the  required  letter,  and 
report  to  Council.  If  the  letter  was  then  approved  it  would 
be  turned  over  to  Milton  or  one  of  his  assistants,  the  usual 
form  of  resolution  being,  "that  the  paper  now  read  be 
approved  of  and  sent  to  Mr.  Milton,  to  be  translated  into 
Latin."  In  some  cases  the  details  of  the  resolution  were 
fuller  and  more  explicit.  For  example,  on  March  31,  1652, 
it  was  ordered  in  Council  "that  the  paper  now  prepared,  to 
be  given  in  answer  to  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  be  approved, 
translated,  signed,  and  sent  unto  him;  that  Mr  Milton  do 
translate  the  said  Paper  out  of  English  into  Latin,  to  be  sent 
along  as  a  copy."^  Sometimes  the  translator  was  not  speci- 
fied by  name,  but  then  the  regular  Secretary  was  probably 
understood.  On  August  10,  1653,  for  example,  it  was  ordered 
in  the  Council  of  the  Barebones  Parliament  "that  the  answer 
to  the  Paper  of  the  Lord  Lagerfeldt,  Public  Minister  of  the 
Queen  of  Sweden,  of  the  3rd  of  August,  now  read  in  the 
Council,  be  translated  into  Latin,  and  be  delivered  unto  the 
said  Lord  Lagerfeldt  by  the  committee  of  the  Council  tomor- 
row in  the  afternoon.""^ 

If  the  exact  words  of  a  foreign  dispatch  were  not 
approved  or  determined  by  Council,  before  putting  it  into  the 
hands  of  the  translator,  then  after  translation  the  message 
would  be  returned  for  the  reconsideration  of  that  body.  The 
form  of  resolution  for  such  proceeding  is  found  in  the  order 
of  January  2,  1652,  "that  Mr.  Milton  do  prepare  a  letter  in 
Latin,  of  the  Substance  of  what  was  now  here  read  in  English, 
to  be  sent  to  the  Duke  of  Tuscany:  to  be  brought  to  the 
Council  to  be  there  read  for  the  approbation  of  the  Council.''  " 
The  letter  was  prepared  accordingly,  and  approved  on  Jan- 
uary 20.  Milton  was  sometimes'  asked  to  be  present  at  a 
conference  of  the  Foreign  Committee  with  a  foreign  ambas- 
sador, either  to  act  as  interpreter,  or  perhaps  sometimes  to 


1  Masson  IV,  426. 
•J  Masson  IV,  524. 
■i  Masson  IV,  422. 
4  Masson  IV,  236. 

-60- 


gather  the  substance  of  a  paper  which  he  was  to  write  out  in 
Latin, 

When  a  letter  was  at  last  ready  for  delivery  to  a  foreign 
ambassador  present  in  England,  or  for  despatch  to  a  foreign 
court,  it  was  signed  either  by  the  President  of  the  Council' 
or  by  the  speaker  in  the  name  of  Parliament,  or,  after  the 
Protectorate  was  established,  by  Cromwell  himself.  When 
a  paper  was  to  be  ratified  by  Parliament,  it  passed  with  its 
translation  first  through  the  hands  of  the  Foreign  Committee, 
the  Latin  Secretary,  and  the  Council,  in  regular  order.  An 
example  of  this  procedure  is  indicated  in  the  resolution  ly 
Council.  February  11,  1652,  "That  the  copy  of  the  Safeguard 
this  day  read,  to  be  granted  to  the  Court  of  Oldenburg,  be 
approved  of:  That  the  copy  of  the  said  Safeguard  be  trans- 
lated into  Latin  by  Mr,  Milton;"  and  then  that  it  "be  humbly 
reported  to  the  Parliament  for  their  approbation  if  they  shall 
think  fit,"' 

An  incoming  communication  from  a  foreign  court  cr 
ambassador  was  delivered  tD  the  Council  directly  or  to  them 
through  Parliament,  or  under  the  Protectorate  to  Cromwell. 
In  any  case  it  was  ordered  to  be  translated,  regularly  by  the 
Latin  Secretary,  and  if  special  consideration  was  required  or 
answer  returned,  the  matter  was  turned  over  to  the  Com.- 
mittee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  An  example  of  an  order  directing 
such  procedure  is  found  in  the  Council  resolution  of  January 
23,  1652,  "That  Mr,  Milton  do  make  a  translation  of  the 
Paper  this  day  sent  into  the  Council  from  the  Lords  Ambas- 
sadors of  the  High  and  Mighty  Lords  the  States  General  of 
the  United  Provinces;  which  the  Committee  for  Foreign 
Affairs  are  to  take  into  consideration,  and  prepare  an  answer 
thereto,  to  be  reported  to  the  Council."-^  The  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Tongues,  with  England  and  English  on  the  one  hand 
and  Europe  and  Latin  on  the  other,  stood  an  honorable  -And 

1  Masson  IV,  232;  V,  184. 

2  Masson  IV,  423. 

3  Masson  IV,  422, 

—61- 


important  figure  in  the  Commonwealth.  To  Milton  the  task 
of  translating  into  English  must  have  been  like  drudgery, 
and  the  dignity  of  his  office  must  have  appeared  chiefly  when 
he  had  to  voice  in  classical  Latin  a  message  of  his  country  to 
the  foreign  world. 

Declarations  and  manifestoes,  addressed  not  to  any  partic- 
ular nation,  but  to  the  outside  world  in  general,  came  to  the 
Latin  Secretary  for  translation.  It  was  sometimes  considered 
necessary  to  put  the  declaration  into  certain  of  the  subordinate 
and  vulgar  tongues  to  reach  particular  nations  more  intimately, 
but  the  supreme  and  universal  Latin  could  never  be  omitted. 
In  June,  1651,  for  instance,  when  Parliament  voted  a  declara- 
tion of  reasons  for  the  proposed  expedition  into  Scotland, 
Council  ordered  the  declaration  to  "be  translated  into  Latin 
by  Mr.  Milton,  into  Dutch  by  Mr.  Haak,  and  into  French  by 
Monsieur  Augier."^  Again,  on  July  7,  1652,  when  Parlia- 
ment adopted  a  declaration  of  the  causes  of  the  war  against 
the  Dutch,  which  declaration  had  been  prepared  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  State,  Council  ordered  a  translation  to  be  made  into 
Latin,  French,  and  Dutch.-  In  1655,  when  Cromwell  had 
determined  on  a  war  with  Spain,  he  issued  an  elaborate 
manifesto  in  Latin,  demonstrating  to  the  world  at  large  the 
just  cause  of  the  English  Commonwealth  against  the  Spanish 
people:  "Scrvptum  Domini  Protectoris,  ex  consensu  atque 
sententia  concilii  sui  editum,  in  quo  hujus  Reipublicae  causa 
contra  Hispanos  justa  esse  demonstratur."^ 

The  language  served  not  only  to  embody  the  final  draught 
of  a  state  letter  or  a  declaration  for  foreign  intelligence,  but 
was  employed  in  the  articles  of  a  treaty  and  on  occasion  as 
the  medium  of  oral  discussion.  In  May,  1652,  after  the  battle 
between  the  Dutch  and  English  fleets  olf  Dover,  negotiations 
were  open  for  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  contending 
countries.   The  Dutch  Ambassadors,  coming  to  London,  were 


1  Masson  IV,  228. 

2  Masson  IV,  447. 

3  Declaration  of  the  Lord  Protector,  issued  by  the  consent  and  advice 
of  his  Council,  in  which  the  cause  of  this  republic  against  the  Spanish 
people  is  demonstrated  to  be  just.     Masson  V,  4G. 

—62- 


received  in  high  state  by  Parliament,  and  for  many  weeks 
there  were  interviews  and  pai)ers  between  them  and  the 
Council  of  State,  Latin  being  the  language  employed.  The 
Dutch  were  at  a  disadvantage  to  the  English  in  naval  war- 
fare, but  not  in  Latin  speech  to  any  people.  The  negotiations 
coming  to  nought  at  last,  Cromv»'ell  issued  the  declaration  of 
war  mentioned  above. 

Another  instance  of  the  employment  of  Latin  in  treaty 
conferences  was  when  the  Swedish  Ambassador  Count  Bundt 
^ame  to  London  in  1655.  At  a  public  reception  given  by 
Cromwell,  the  Ambassador  made  a  speech  in  Swedish,  which 
was  imm.ediately  translated  by  his  secretary  into  Latin. 
Cromwell  replied  in  English,  which  the  Ambassador  sufficiently 
understood.  This  situation,  with  three  languages  used  in 
courtesies  between  two  men,  is  a  curious  one.  Later  when 
the  treaty  was  under  discussion  between  representatives  of 
the  two  countries,  the  Swede  begged  "to  be  excused  if  he 
should  mistake  anything  of  the  sense  of  them  [the  articles], 
they  being  in  English  which  he  could  not  so  well  understand 
as  if  they  had  been  in  Latin,  which  they  must  be  put  into  in 
conclusion."  He  was  advised  that,  while  the  articles  were 
brought  in  in  English  to  save  time,  they  should  be  put  in 
Latin  "when  his  Excellency  should  desire."  Such  desire 
being  indicated,  the  Ambassador  a  few  days  later  had  to  com- 
plain that  the  translation  was  delayed  because  it  had  been 
intrusted  to  a  blind  man.  The  discussion  of  the  proposed 
treaty  was  conducted  partly  in  Latin,  certain  of  the  conferees 
probably  choosing  to  use  English  or  Swedish  just  as  it  was 
done  in  the  reception  of  the  visitors  of  Cromwell.  But  Latin, 
embodying  the  articles  themselves,  seems  to  have  played  the 
most  important  and  distinguished  part  ^ 

Milton's  long  and  busy  career  as  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Tongues,  from  1649  to  1660,  resulted  in  the  composition  of 
one  hundred  and  forty-nine  Latin  letters  which  are  included 
in  his  prose  works.  He  addressed  during  this  time  a  score  or 
more  of  the  different  powers  and  principalities  of   Europe. 

1  Masson  V,  252-3. 

—63— 


The  substance  of  the  letters  belonged  to  the  Council  of  State, 
the  Committee  for  Foreign  Affairs,  or  to  Cromwell;  the 
language  was  Milton's, — diffuse,  involved,  sonorous,  withal 
dignified  and  commanding,  and  worthy  of  the  high  spirit  and 
proud  scholarship  of  its  industrious  author.' 

The  most  notable  business  that  ever  fell  to  Milton's  hand 
for  communication  was  Cromwell's  prompt  and  vigorous 
action,  in  1653,  concerning  the  Vaudois  massacre.  The  slaugh- 
ter occurred  April  17.  On  May  17,  and  for  many  days  there- 
after, the  Council  of  Cromwell  was  absorbed  in  consideration 
of  the  appalling  event.  Letters  were  dispatched  to  the  Duke 
of  Savoy,  to  France,  Sweden,  to  the  States  General  of  the 
United  Provinces,  to  the  Swiss  Cantons,  to  Denmark,  and  to 
Ragotski,  Prince  of  Transylvania,  all  in  Milton's  Latin.  A 
special  ambassador  to  Savoy,  Mr.  Samuel  Moreland,  delivered 
Cromwell's  letter  of  remonstrance,  and  addressed  to  the  Duke 
a  speech,  also  in  Latin,  whose  meaning  and  warning  were 
understood  and  heeded.  When  one  thinks  of  this  great  triumph 
of  England's  international  influence,  one  should  remember 
that  it  was  in  Latin  that  the  mighty  will  of  Cromwell  was 
heralded  abroad,— in  that  very  language  which  had  once  car- 
ried the  decrees  of  Imperial  Rome  far  and  wide  to  the  obedi- 
ent nations.  2 

1  These  letters  are  all  reviewed  by  Masson  in  his  Life  of  Milton,  in 
connection  with  the  public  circumstances  under  which  they  were  writterT 
Volumes  IV  and  V  cover  the  period  of  Milton's  secretaryship. 

2  An  account  of  the  massacre  and  Cromwell's  action  is  given  in  Mas- 
son  V,  38  ff. 


—64— 


CHAPTER  V. 
Latin  in  Private  Correspondence. 

The  employment  of  Latin  by  an  English  sovereign  or 
council  of  state  in  communicating  with  a  continental  power 
was  not  an  artificial  scheme  built  up  without  a  broad  founda- 
tion in  the  conditions  of  the  age.  Men  in  private  capacity, 
without  regard  to  anything  except  the  present  need,  used 
Latin  in  corresponding  with  foreigners,  there  being  oftentimes 
no  other  language  sufficiently  familiar  and  therefore  no  alter- 
native even  were  one  desired.  The  knowledge  of  modern 
languages,  save  one's  own  native  speech,  was  not  esteemed  a 
very  valuable  acquisition,  nor  an  essential  mark  of  learning 
and  culture.  Milton  in  a  letter  to  Bradshaw,  former  presi- 
dent of  the  regicide  court,  introduced  Andrew  Marvell,  Febru- 
uary  21,  1653,  and  indicated  the  notion  of  the  day  that  schol- 
arship depended  not  on  the  modern  but  solely  on  the  ancient 
languages.  "He  hath  spent,"  said  the  letter,  "four  years 
abroad  in  Holland,  France,  Italy,  and  Spain,  to  very  good 
purpose,  as  I  believe,  and  the  gaining  of  these  four  languages: 
besides,  he  is  a  scholar,  and  well  read  in  the  Latin  and  Greek 
authors."' 

To  know  Dutch,  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  was  no 
doubt  an  unusual  accomplishment,  and  in  some  cases  greatly 
worth  while,  but  to  be  'a  scholar,  well  read  in  the  Latin  and 
Greek  authors, '  was  an  indispensable  one  for  any  man  of 
ambition  and  self-esteem.  "The  wheedling  jargon  of  the 
French,"  as  Phillips  called  it,  and  the  other  vulgar  tongues 
could  be  neglected  without  disgrace.  Hobbes,  who  thought 
through  many  of  the  shams  of  his  time,  protested  in  vain 
against  the  monopoly  of  the  ancient  languages  in  the  educa- 


i  Masson  IV,  478-9. 

—65- 


tion  of  Englishmen.  Latin  and  Greek,  he  wrote  in  his 
Behemoth,  were  once  profitable  and  necessary  for  detecting 
Roman  fraud  and  ejecting  Romish  power;  now,  when  the 
Scriptures  were  translated  into  English,  he  saw  no  great  need 
for  the  classical  languages,  but  held  far  more  desirable  a 
knowledge  of  modern  neighboring  tongues — French,  Dutch, 
and  Italian.' 

This  notion  of  Hobbes's  was  centuries  ahead  of  his  time. 
He  himself  paid  the  highest  honors  to  Latin  by  writing  in 
that  language  his  philosophical  works,  some  of  his  contro- 
versial papers,  and  last  of  all  his  versified  autobiography. 
The  power  of  Latin  was  too  great  in  that  century  for  any  one 
man,  however  logical  and  influential,  to  disdain  and  escape  it. 
When  it  came  to  corresponding  v/ith  a  foreigner,  an  English- 
man could  be  sure  of  one  thing,  and  that  was  the  propriety  of 
using  Latin.  Only  a  perfect  mastery  of  the  foreigner's  tongue 
would  permit  its  use;  respect  and  courtesy  for  one's  corre- 
spondent would  rule  out  English.  Utility,  pride,  custom,  dig- 
nity, and  honor  all  dictated  the  one  universal  language. 
Accordingly  the  private  citizen,  like  the  ofiicial  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Tongues,  adorned  his  correspondence  with  the  sonor- 
ous vowels  and  balanced  sentences  of  Cicero,  as  nearly  as  he 
could  attain  to  that  great  model. 

Sir  Henry  Wotton,  a  man  of  typical  culture  for  English- 
men of  his  time,  who  served  his  state  in  numerous  foreign 
embassies  and  closed  his  days  as  Provost  of  Eton  College, 
left  behind  a  lot  of  letters  addressed  to  his  fellow-country- 
men, and  in  small  part  to  friends  abroad.  An  examination 
of  his  correspondence  from  the  year  1615  on  shows  that  all 
his  English  letters  were  addressed  to  natives  of  England,  the 
three  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  being  no  exception  since  she 
was  the  daughter  of  King  James  L  All  of  Sir  Henry's  Latin 
letters  after  the  same  date,  six  in  number,  were  written  to 
foreigners,  save  one  sent  from  Vienna  home  to  King  James. 
That  royal  devotee  of  learning  would  no  doubt  have  preferred 
it  in  Latin  under  any  circumstances,  and  especially  since  the 


1  Behemoth,  Molesworth's  ed.  of  Works,  VI,  276. 

-66— 


writer  was  then  abroad  and  ambassador  at  the  same  time. 
As  Ambassador  to  Venice,  Sir  Henry  wrote  four  Italian  let- 
ters to  Doge  Pruili.  On  the  whole,  Wotton  may  be  taken  as 
typical  in  his  use  of  languages  in  correspondence:  choosing 
English  for  Englishmen  and  Latin  for  aliens,  with  exceptions 
only  in  view  of  special  circumstances.^ 

Since  only  the  learned  could  meet  the  linguistic  require- 
ments of  international  correspondence,  the  topics  treated 
were  accordingly  of  a  dignity  worthy  for  the  most  part  of 
the  language  employed.  Science  and  philosophy  had  their 
share  of  attention  in  that  philosophic  if  not  scientific  age. 
The  letters,  for  instance,  of  Dr.  William  Harvey  were  mostly 
in  Latin,  and  many  of  them  (though  the  whole  number  was 
not  large )  discussed  with  his  brother  physicians  in  Germany 
and  other  parts  of  Europe  the  physiological  questions  which 
he  had  done  so  much  toward  answering.  His  startling  theory 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  was,  like  many  another  mo- 
mentous scientific  discovery,  not  immediately  accepted  by  all 
men,  not  even  by  all  the  learned:  and  Harvey's  correspond- 
ence labored  to  remove  prejudice  among  his  foreign  friends, 
and  to  make  acceptable  what  he  knew  to  be  the  truth. - 

Another  favorite  theme  for  private  correspondence,  as 
for  every  other  literary  essay  in  seventeenth  century  Eng- 
land, was  religion  and  the  church.  When  men  of  different 
nationalities  wrote  letters  to  each  other  on  this  subject,  there 
was  double  reason  for  seeking  the  dignity  and  form  of  no 
vulgar  tongue.  In  1640,  when  Bishop  Joseph  Hall  corres- 
ponded'' with  John  Durie  on  the  proposed  problem  of  a  uni- 
versal Protestant  union,  which  Samuel  Hartlib,  Milton's 
friend,  was  endeavoring  to  introduce  to  the  minds  of  Eng- 
lishmen, the  language  of  the  two  great  scholars  and  divines 
could  have  been  none  other  than  Latin.  The  same  is  true  of 
Robert  Baillie,  Principal  of  the  University  of  Glasgow,  who 
about  1640  and  onwards  wrote  occasionally  from  Glasgow  to 

1  Life  and  Letters  of  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  by  L.  P.  Smith.  Appen- 
dix I,  D. 

2  Willis's  Harvey:     Chapter  H.  Section  XIV. 
-  Masson  IH,  217. 

—67— 


Clarissimo  et  Doctissimo  Viro  D.  Gisberto  Vostio,  Sacrae 
Theologiae  in  Academiae  Ultrajectina  Professori,^  concerning 
current  religious  disputes,  seeking  the  scholar's  opinion  and 
begging  his  prayers  for  the  troubled  church  of  England. 

Milton's  private  letters,  which  were  mostly  in  Latin, 
seem  to  have  been  devoted  chiefly  to  complimentary  passages 
and  to  general  literary  observations.  In  this  epistolary  Latin 
of  his,  as  in  fact  in  so  much  of  the  Latin  of  the  times  whether 
prose  or  poetry,  the  reader  feels  that  a  rhetorical  exercise  is 
in  progress,  and  that  here,  as  in  the  schools  and  universities, 
words  rather  than  ideas  are  the  object  of  search  and  refine- 
ment. These  letters  of  Milton's  which  are  still  preserved, 
thirty-one  in  number,  are  scattered  from  the  seventeenth  to  the 
sixty-sixth  or  last  year  of  his  Hfe.  Nineteen  were  written  to 
men  whose  native  language  was  not  English:  two  to  Italians, 
ten  to  Germans,  two  to  a  Greek,  two  to  Frenchmen,  one  to  a 
native  of  Friesland,  and  two  to  "the  illustrious  Lord  Henry 
de  Bras",  otherwise  unknown.  The  fact  that  each  of  his 
correspondents  was  a  man  of  learning  and  ability  determined 
Milton's  choice  of  Latin,  even  though  English  was  in  some 
cases  familiar  to  both.  A  number  of  his  letters  were  written 
during  his  University  days,  when  the  ancient  language  yet 
claimed  his  enthusiasm  and  energy. 

Latin  was  so  confessedly  the  appropriate  language  of 
correspondence  between  foreigners,  that  only  a  special  rea- 
son would  suggest  the  using  of  any  other.  In  one  of  his  let- 
ters to  Henry  Oldenburg,  Aulic  Counsellor  to  the  Senate  of 
Bremen,  Milton  offered  a  thoughtful  courtesy  to  his  German 
friend:  "I  had  more  than  once",  he  wrote,  "an  intention  of 
substituting  our  English  for  your  Latin,  that  you,  who  have 
studied  our  language  with  more  accuracy  and  success  than 
any  foreigner  with  whom  I  am  acquainted,  might  lose  no 
opportunity  of  writing  it,  which  I  think  you  would  do  with 
equal  elegance  and  correctness.  But  in  this  respect  you 
shall  act  as  you  feel  incli-ned."-    It  does  not  appear  that  Old- 


1  Baillie's  Letters,  Vol.  Ill,  103-4. 
•J  Familiar  Letter  XIV. 

-68- 


enburff  ever  took  advantage  of  Milton's  j^enerous  proposal. 

Many  points  of  bioe:raphical  value  lie  imbedded  in  Mil- 
ton's correspondence  with  his  foreign  friends.  Perhaps  the 
most  interesting  are  the  references  to  his  blindness.  Letter 
numbered  XV,  to  Leonard  Philaras  the  Athenian  who  had 
visited  him  in  London,  was  taken  up  entirely  with  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  gradual  coming  on  of  darkness  till  both  the  poet's 
eyes  were  obscured.  Again,  in  the  last  of  the  Familiar  Let- 
ters, writing  to  Peter  Heimbach  he  closed  with  an  apology 
for  any  errors  in  diction  or  pronunciation.  Such  errors  were 
to  be  imputed,  he  said,  to  '  'the  boy  who  wrote  this,  who  is 
quite  ignorant  of  Latin,  and  to  whom  I  was,  with  no  little 
vexation,  obliged  to  dictate  not  the  words,  but,  one  by  one, 
the  letters  of  which  they  were  composed." 

Not  only  in  familiar  correspondence  but  in  conversation 
and  in  poetic  compliments,  Latin  was  the  medium  between 
different  nationalities.  To  the  famous  singer,  Leonora  Bar- 
oni,  whom  Milton  heard  at  Rome,  he  made  three  Latin  epi- 
grams,' probably  not  being  sure  of  the  Italian  idiom  for  such 
a  delicate  business.  At  Naples,  in  1639,  Milton  sent  the  poet 
Manso,  who  had  entertained  him,  a  Latin  tribute  in  hexam- 
eters, which  were  published  in  1645  in  England;  an  eloquent, 
impassioned  poem,  in  which  he  referred  to  his  high  epic  plan 
to  call  back  into  verse  the  native  English  kings,  "Arthur  and 
the  knights  of  the  unconquered  table. '"^  Manso  returned  the 
compliment  with  gift  of  two  richly  wrought  cups,  and  a 
Latin  elegiac  couplet,  calling  Milton  Anglic  and  almost 
angelic,  saving  his  creed. ^ 

It  has  been  previously  shown  that  in  diplomatic  discus- 
sions between  English  and  foreign  embassies,  Latin  was 
sometimes  used;  and  it  has  been  pointed  out  how  in  the  Uni- 
versities Latin  was  the  language  for  every  kind  of  communi- 
cation, oral  and  v^itten.  In  private  conversation  it  was 
common  for  Latin  to  be  used  by  learned  foreigners  of  differ- 
ent nationalities.     Evelyn  tells  in  his  diary.  May  6,   1656,  of 

1  Masson  I,  635-6. 

2  Masson  I,  646-7. 

3  Masson  I,  646-8. 

—69- 


a  young  Frenchman  whom  he  persuaded  to  accept  the  doc- 
trine and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  who  was 
seeking  sacred  orders.  "I  brought  Monsieur  le  Franc,"  says 
Evelyn,  "a  young  French  Sorbonnist,  a  proselyte,  to  converse 
with  Dr.  Taylor;'  they  fell  to  a  dispute  on  original  sinn,  in 
Latine,  upon  a  booke  newly  published  by  the  Doctor,  who 
was  much  satisfied  with  the  young  man."  The  satisfaction 
probably  had  as  much  to  do  with  scholarly  abilities  as  a 
proper  acceptance  of  the  necessary  doctrines. 

t  Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor. 


-70- 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Latin  Publications. 

We  have  shown  that  the  voice  of  the  English  state,  ad- 
dressing- any  particular  foreign  state,  or  the  world  in  general 
by  universal  proclamation,  used  the  Latin  language  and 
thereby  insured  intelligibility,  dignity,  and  honor.  Private 
correspondence  was  guided  by  the  same  conditions  and  pur- 
poses. We  come  now  to  another  international  use  of  Latin: 
the  use  by  individual  Englishmen  speaking  or  writing  in 
their  capacity  as  defenders  of  their  country  or  as  scientists 
and  teachers  with  a  message  of  concern  to  all  thinking  and 
learned  men  among  all  nations. 

In  the  writing  of  books  it  was  very  clear  to  Englishmen 
what  the  advantages  would  be  in  using  Latin  and  what  sort 
of  audience  the  learned  language  would  appeal  to  The  first 
question,  and  one  that  largely  determined  in  an  author's 
mind  whether  he  should  compose  his  work  in  English  or 
Latin,  was  the  range  of  his  appeal;  would  he  address  a  more 
crowded  audience  of  only  Englishmen,  or  the  learned  heads 
loosely  but  widely  scattered  throughout  the  European  world. 
A  strictly  domestic  concern,  an  English  family  affair  so  to 
speak,  would  naturally  be  discussed  in  the  vernacular.  Such 
a  question,  for  example,  would  be  Church  Reformation  or 
the  Liberty  of  the  Press  in  England,  in  the  treatment  of 
which  Milton  deliberately  chose  the  language  of  the  country 
addressed  and  primarily  concerned.  But  when  he  was  to 
defend  the  English  people  not  against  any  part  of  themselves 
but  against  a  hostile  foreign  world,  he  wrote  in  Latin  his 
Defeiisio  Pro  Populo  Anglicano.^  teaching  a  continental  audi- 
ence concerning  a  matter  in  which  they  particularly  needed 


1  Defense  of  the  People  of  England,  1650. 

—71- 


instruction.  Milton's  choice  of  English  or  Latin  for  his  prose 
pamphlets  struck  with  fine  wisdom  the  reasonable  distinc- 
tion between  the  uses  of  the  two  languages  for  Englishmen 
of  that  day. 

The  policy  he  seems  to  have  adopted  was  to  employ  Eng- 
lish whenever  the  English  people  were  chiefly  concerned  in 
the  perusal  of  his  discourse,  and  not  to  be  tempted  by  the 
applause  which  eloquence  in  the  honored  Latin  might  win 
for  him  abroad.  In  "The  Reason  of  Church  Government", 
published  in  1641,  he  declared  that  "if  I  were  certain  to 
write  as  men  buy  leases,  for  three  lives  and  downward,  there 
ought  no  regard  be  sooner  had  than  to  God's  glory,  by  the 
honour  and  instruction  of  my  country.  For  which  cause, 
and  not  only  for  that  I  knew  it  would  be  hard  to  arrive  at 
the  second  rank  among  the  Latins,  I  applied  myself  to  that 
resolution,  which  Ariosto  followed  against  the  persuasions  of 
Bembo,  to  fix  all  industry  and  art  I  could  unite  to  the  adorn- 
ing of  my  native  tongue;  not  to  make  verbal  curiosities  the 
end,  (that  were  a  toilsome  vanity, )  but  to  be  an  interpreter 
and  a  relater  of  the  best  and  sagest  things  among  mine  own 
citizens  throughout  the  island  in  the  mother  dialect.  That 
what  the  greatest  and  choicest  wits  of  Athens,  Rome,  or 
modern  Italy,  and  those  Hebrews  of  old  did  for  their  coun- 
try, I,  in  my  proportion,  with  this  over  and  above,  of  being 
a  Christian,  might  do  for  mine;  not  caring  to  be  once  named 
abroad,  though  perhaps  I  could  attain  to  that,  but  content 
with  these  British  islands  as  my  world;  whose  fortune  has 
hitherto  been,  that  if  the  Athenians,  as  some  say,  made  their 
small  deeds  great  and  renowned  by  their  eloquent  writers, 
England  hath  had  her  noble  achievements  made  small  by  the 
unskilful  handling  of  monks  and  mechanics."'  In  this  char- 
acteristic passage  Milton's  reference  was  no  doubt  to  his 
plans  for  poetry  rather  than  prose,  in  the  honoring  and 
teaching  of  his  country;  but  the  same  determination  guided 
him  in  all  his  writings,  to  use  the  mother  tongue  if  his  message 
was  not  exclusively  or  pre-eminently  for  foreign  readers. 

1  Milton's  Prose  Works  IT,  478. 

—72- 


In  the  "Doctrine  of  Discipline  and  Divorce",  written  in 
1643,  addressing  Parliament  and  the  Ecclesiastical  Assembly, 
he  drew  again  the  distinction  which  guided  him  in  the  choice 
of  language.  "I  seek  not,"  he  said,  "to  seduce  the  simple 
and  illiterate;  my  errand  is  to  find  out  the  choicest  and  the 
learnedest,  who  have  this  high  gift  of  wisdom  to  answer 
solidly,  or  to  be  convinced.  I  crave  it  from  the  piety,  the 
learning,  and  the  prudence  which  is  housed  in  this  place.  It 
might  perhaps  have  been  more  fitly  written  in  another 
tongue:  and  I  had  done  so,  but  that  the  esteem  I  have  of  my 
country's  judgment,  and  the  love  I  bear  to  my  native  lan- 
guage to  serve  it  first  with  what  I  endeavor,  make  me  speak 
it  thus,  ere  I  assay  the  verdict  of  outlandish  readers."' 

As  late  as  1659,  when  he  addressed  Parliament  with  "A 
Treatise  of  Civil  Power  in  Ecclesiastical  Causes,"  Milton 
still  held  firmly  to  the  early  reasons  for  choosing  English 
when  Latin  was  not  a  necessity.  "I  have  prepared,  supreme 
council,"  he  began,  "against  the  much-expected  time  of  your 
sitting,  this  treatise;  which,  though  to  to  all  Christian  magis- 
trates equally  belonging,  and  therefore  to  have  been  written 
in  the  common  language  of  Christendom,  natural  duty  and 
afi^ection  hath  confined,  and  dedicated  first  to  my  own  nation; 
and  in  a  season  wherein  the  timely  reading  thereof,  to  the 
easier  accomplishment  of  your  great  work,  may  save  you 
much  labor  and  interruption."-  We  may  feel  sure,  from 
these  statements,  that  if  Milton  was  consistent,  he  used 
Latin  only  when  he  had  no  other  choice,  only  when  the 
supreme  purpose  of  his  writing  was  an  errand  not  to  English- 
men but  to  the  people  of  Europe  at  large.  And  so  his  treat- 
ises on  Church  Reformation,  on  Divorce,  on  the  Tenure  of 
Kings  and  Magistrates,  on  Education;  his  Eikonoklastes,  his 
Ready  and  Easy  Way  to  Establish  a  Free  Commonwealth, 
and  his  histories  of  Britain  and  Muscovia,  were  addressed  to 
his  countrymen  in  their  native  speech.  On  the  other  hand 
all  his  defenses  of  the  People  of  England  and  of  himself, 

1  Milton's  Prose  Works,  III,  179. 

2  Milton's  Prose  Works,  II,  520-1. 

—73— 


being  answers  against  foreigners  who  attacked  him  or  his 
country  in  Latin,  were  themselves  written  in  that  tongue. 
The  De  Doctrina  Christiana,  his  longest  work,  was  likewise 
in  Latin,  being,  according  to  the  Dedication,  "the  address  of 
John  Milton  to  all  the  Churches  of  Christ,  and  to  all  who  pro- 
fess the  Christian  faith  throughout  the  world." 

The  vast  audience  which  one,  writing  from  England  in 
the  universal  language,  might  have  pictured  for  himself,  is 
splendidly  described  by  Milton  in  the  first  pages  of  his  Sec- 
ond Defense  of  the  People  of  England,  published  in  1654. 
Flushed  with  the  triumph  of  his  first  defense  against  the 
great  Salmasius,  he  was  borne  up  on  the  wings  of  his  mag- 
nificent theme  before  the  upturned  faces  of  the  whole  civil- 
ized world.  "I  am  far  from  wishing,"  he  exclaimed,  "to 
make  any  vain  or  arrogant  comparisons,  or  to  speak  ostenta- 
tiously of  myself;  but,  in  a  cause  so  great  and  glorious,  and 
particularly  on  an  occasion  when  I  am  called  by  the  general 
suffrage  to  defend  the  very  defenders  of  that  cause,  I  can 
hardly  refrain  from  assuming  a  more  lofty  and  swelling  tone 
than  the  simplicity  of  an  exordium  may  seem  to  justify:  and 
much  as  I  may  be  surpassed  in  the  powers  of  eloquence  and 
copiousness  of  diction,  by  the  illustrious  orators  of  antiquity, 
yet  the  subject  of  which  I  treat  was  never  surpassed  in  any 
age,  in  dignity,  or  in  interest.  It  has  excited  such  general 
and  such  ardent  expectation,  that  I  imagine  myself  not  in 
the  forum  or  on  the  rostra,  surrounded  only  by  the  people  of 
Athens  or  of  Rome,  but  about  to  address  in  this,  as  I  did  in 
my  former  Defense,  the  whole  collective  body  of  people, 
cities,  states,  and  councils  of  the  wise  and  eminent,  through 
the  wide  expanse  of  anxious  and  listening  Europe.  I  seem 
to  survey,  as  from  a  towering  height,  the  far  extended  tracts 
of  sea  and  land,  and  innumerable  crowds  of  spectators,  be- 
traying in  their  looks  the  liveliest  interest,  and  sensations 
the  most  congenial  with  my  own.  Here  I  behold  the  stout 
and  manly  prowess  of  the  Germans  disdaining  servitude; 
there  the  generous  and  lively  impetuosity  of  the  French;  on 
this  side,  the  calm  and  stately  valour  of  the  Spaniard;  on 
that,  the  composed  and  wary  magnanimity  of  the  Italian.  .  . 

—74- 


.  .  .  .Surrounded  by  congrej^ated  multitudes,  I  now  imagine 
that,  from  the  columns  of  Hercules  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  I 
behold  the  nations  of  the  earth  recovering  that  liberty  which 
they  so  long  had  lost;  and  that  the  people  of  this  island  are 
transporting  to  other  countries  a  plant  of  more  beneficial 
qualities,  and  more  noble  growth,  than  that  which  Tripto- 
lemus  is  reported  to  have  carried  from  region  to  region;  that 
they  are  disseminating  the  blessings  of  civilization  and  free- 
dom among  cities,  kingdoms,  and  nations."' 

To  sum  up  Milton's  conception  of  the  proper  use  of  Latin 
by  individual  Englishmen,  it  was,  in  his  own  phrases,  to 
"essay  the  verdict  of  outlandish  readers,"  to  write  treatises 
"to  all  the  Christian  magistrates  equally  belonging,"  to 
address  "all  the  Churches  of  Christ,  and  all  who  profess  the 
Christian  faith  throughout  the  world,",  and  "the  whole  col- 
lective body  of  people,  cities,  states,  and  councils  of  the  wise 
and  eminent,  through  the  wide  expanse  of  anxious  and  listen- 
ing Europe."  For  anyone  of  these  things  to  be  done,  Latin 
had  to  be  employed.  The  same  clear  recognition  of  the 
range  of  language  appears  in  the  act  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon  in 
putting  into  Latin  such  works  of  his  as  he  meant  should  live;- 
and  in  that  of  Thomas  Hobbes,  in  translating,  in  1668,  his  origi- 
nal English  Leviathan  v^^hich  his  own  scrupulous  countrymen 
were  threatening  to  suppress.^  "My  fame,"  said  the  philoso- 
pher, after  the  translation,  in  reply  to  criticism  and  abuse, 
"has  long  ago  flown  abroad,  not  to  be  recalled."  Comenius, 
in  his  educational  reform,  insisted  on  the  thorough  mastering 
of  Latin,  not  as  a  part  of  learning  or  wisdom,  but  as  a  means 
of  communicating  and  receiving  knowledge,  as  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  wise  use  of  books.  These  four  great  contempora- 
ries, three  Englishmen  and  one  a  citizen  of  the  world,  not 
only  agreed  in  their  opinion  of  the  right  province  of  Latin, 
but  showed  in  practice  their  faith  in  the  language. 

Milton,    in  comparing  the  famous  success  of  his   Latin 


1  Milton's  Prose  Works,  I,  219,  220. 

2  Spedding,  Preface,  XI. 

:i  Robertson's  Hobbes,  200-1. 

-75- 


Defenses  with  the  poor  reception  of  his  English  Reform 
pamphlets,  was  naturally  inclined  to  be  proud  of  the  former 
and  to  put  more  trust  accordingly  in  learning  and  the 
learned.  In  his  Ready  and  Easy  Way  to  Establish  a  Free 
Commonwealth,  written  in  1660,  he  referred  to  his  having 
defended  the  heroic  cause  of  the  English  people  "to  all 
Christendom  against  the  tongue  of  a  famous  and  thought- 
invincible  adversary;"  and  having  left  "a  written  monument 
likely  to  outlive  detraction."^  Though  in  all  his  addresses  to 
his  people  he  had  sincerely  hoped  to  improve  and  honor  his 
native  language,  yet  his  messages  at  home  had  rewarded  him 
only  with  disappointment.  His  feehng  of  the  contrast 
between  his  English  and  his  Latin  successes  is  indicated  in  a 
reply  in  1655,  to  Leo  de  Aitzema,  agent  at  the  Hague  and 
the  Hanse  Towns,  who  wrote  to  Milton  about  having  his 
Divorce  book  translated  into  Dutch.  Both  the  inquiry  and 
the  answer  were  in  Latin.  Milton  said,  among  other  things: 
"As  regards  the  Book  on  Divorce  which  you  tell  me  you  have 
given  to  some  one  to  be  turned  into  Dutch,  I  had  rather  you 
had  given  it  to  be  turned  into  Latin.  For  my  experience  in 
these  books  has  now  been  that  the  vulgar  still  receive  accord- 
ing to  their  wont  opinions  not  already  common. "  No  use,  in 
other  words,  to  put  reform  treatises  in  the  vulgar  tongues 
for  common  people  to  read;  any  effect  to  be  produced  with 
new  ideas  must  be  among  the  learned  reading  Latin. 

Milton  was  not  the  only  Englishman  who  took  note  of 
the  fame  his  Latin  arguments  had  found  abroad,  but  not 
every  one  regarded  that  fame  with  pride  and  congratulation. 
In  1660,  while  the  Restoration  was  close  upon  England,  there 
appeared  in  London  a  pamphlet,  though  anonymous,  known 
to  have  been  by  Roger  L'  Estange,  entitled,  "No  Blind 
Guides:  in  answer  to  a  seditious  pamphlet  of  J.  Milton's 
entitled  'Brief  Notes  on  a  late  Sermon,  &c. '  Addressed  to 
the  Author.  'If  the  Blind  lead  the  Blinde,  both  shall  fall 
into  the  ditch'."  One  passage,  referring  to  Milton's  Defense 
of  the  People  of  England,  exclaimed:  "Tis  there  (as  I  remem- 

I  Lockwood,  153. 

-76— 


ber)  that  you  commonplace  yourself  into  set  forms  of  railing, 
two  pages  thick;  and  lest  your  infamy  should  not  extend 
itself  enough  within  the  course  and  usage  of  your  mother 
tongue,  the  thing  is  dressed  up  in  a  travelling  garb  and  lan- 
guage, to  blast  the  English  nation  to  the  Universe,  and  give 
every  man  a  horror  of  mankind  when  he  considers  you  are 
of  the  race."' 

One  other  contemporary  opinion  of  the  European  appeal 
of  the  language  may  yet  be  quoted,  Peter  Du  Moulin  was 
an  ardent  Episcopalian  and  follower  of  Charles  I,  and  lent 
his  learning,  which  was  of  some  pretense,  to  the  royalists. 
He  made  a  solemn  vow%  in  answer  to  the  King's  invitation  to 
represent  his  cause  abroad,  '  'that,  as  far  Latin  and  French 
could  go  in  the  world,  I  would  make  the  justice  of  the  king's 
and  church's  cause  to  be  known,  especially  to  the  Protestants 
of  France  and  the  Low  Countries."  He  made  good  his  vow, 
and  sent  forth  in  Latin  the  scurrilous  pamphlet  entitled 
"Regii  Sanguinis  Clamor  ad  Coelum.'"-  By  this  work  he 
extolled  the  martyred  king,  and  defamed  Milton  as  far  as 
Latin  "could  go  in  the  world." 

This  extensive  foreign  audience  it  was  that  first  encour- 
aged an  English  scholar  to  employ  the  universally  intelligible 
language  when  his  message  was  to  all  mankind.  As  a  fur- 
ther advantage  in  its  favor,  Latin  seemed  the  most  perma- 
nent of  languages,  having  survived  by  a  thousand  years  the 
downfall  of  its  native  city;  and  the  most  honorable,  having  a 
long  and  noble  record  of  service  to  human  civilization.  Wide 
range  of  appeal,  first,  then  permanence  and  honor,  recom- 
mended the  ancient  above  any  modern  tongue.  In  a  later 
section  further  notice  will  be  taken  of  the  superior  dignity 
and  power  of  Latin. 

The  English  state  viewed  with  anxiety  the  birth  of  Latin 
books  hostile  to  its  acts  and  policies.     To  protect  against  for- 

1  Masson  V,  689-690. 

2  Cry  of  the  King's  Blood  to  Heaven.     Masson  V,   217-218.      Also 
Diet.  Nat.  Biog.  sub  Moulin. 

—77— 


eign  literary  invasion  and  to  meet  attack  with  similar  force 
became  a  part  of  the  duties  of  the  Council  of  State  and  the 
Foreign  Committee.  This  was  especially  true  during  the 
precarious  years  following  the  execution  of  Charles,  when 
the  whole  world  seemed  to  surround  the  Puritan  island  and 
rage  against  the  doings  of  the  bold  republicans.  When  it 
became  known  among  the  victorious  revolutionists  in  Eng- 
land that  the  royalists  had  hired  the  eloquent  French  Latin- 
ist  Salmasius  to  proclaim  the  defense  of  the  Stuarts  over 
Europe,  it  was  ordered  in  Council  November  19,  1649,  to  take 
measures  for  intercepting  the  book  expected  from  Holland. 
Without  power  to  reach  beyond  the  channel  and  annihilate 
the  enemy  there.  Council  had  means  at  least  of  preventing 
an  invasion  of  the  English  land.  The  hostile  and  dangerous 
book  was  Defensio  Regia  pro  Carolo  I.  Ad  Serenissiinum 
Magnae  Britanniae  Regem  Carolo  II;  filium  natu  majorem, 
heredem  et  successorem  legitimum.^  It  was  a  duodecimo  of 
444  pages,  truly  formidable  in  size.  The  measures  of  pro- 
tection proposed  by  Council  were  to  intercept  the  book  at  the 
custom-house.  But  this  mere  keeping  it  out  of  England  was 
not  sufficient.  An  antidote  had  to  be  sent  abroad  to  counter- 
act the  effects  there.  Accordingly  on  January  8,  1650,  it 
was  ordered  that  "Mr.  Milton  do  prepare  something  in 
answer  to  the  Book  of  Salmasius,  and  when  he  hath  done  it 
to  bring  it  to  the  Council. "  "Do  prepare,"  though  the  nor- 
mal style  of  such  resolutions,  may  be  read  to  suggest  the 
anxious  appeal  of  the  councillors  in  this  dread  emergency. 
"Prepare  something" — the  vagueness  suggests  helplessness, 
and  trust  in  the  resources  of  the  eloquent  Secretary.  In 
February,  that  is,  the  very  next  month,  Council  employed 
Milton  for  another  year,  at  his  former  salary,  and  on  the 
same  day  "a  letter  was  despatched  by  the  Council  of  State 
to  the  Commissioners  of  Customs,  informing  them  that  copies 
of  Salmasius 's  Defensio  Regia  were  on  their  way  from  Hol- 
land to  several  booksellers  in  England,  and  instructing  them 

1  Masson  IV,  150.    Defense  of  Charles  I.    To  Charles  II,  most  serene 
King  of  Great  Britain,  his  elder  son,  and  legitimate  heir  and  successor. 

—78- 


to  order  the  subordinate  officers  of  Customs  to  see  to  the  dis- 
covery and  seizure  of  all  such  copies,  that  the  importers 
might  be  proceeded  against".'  At  last,  after  anxious  waiting 
and  watching  the  Council  were  informed  that  the  undoing  of 
Salmasius  was  at  hand,  and  they  ordered,  December  23, 
1650,  "that  Mr.  Milton  do  print  the  treatise  he  hath  written 
in  answer  to  a  late  Book  written  by  Salmasius  against  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Commonwealth."-  This  was  the  first 
Defense  of  the  People  of  England,  which  vanquished  Salma- 
sius, which  made  Milton's  name  a  wonder  throughout  Eu- 
rope, and  which  he  later  proudly  declared  would  "outlive 
detraction." 

Just  ten  years  later,  at  the  Restoration  which  meant 
also  destruction,  Commons  ordered  this  famous  Defense 
together  with  its  fellow-offender,  the  Eikonoklastes,  to  be 
collected  and  burned;  and  proceedings  to  be  started  against 
the  wicked  author.  "This  week,  according  to  a  former  pro- 
clamation," say  the  newspapers  of  September  3-10,  1660, 
"several  copies  of  those  infamous  books  made  by  John  Good- 
will and  John  Milton  in  justification  of  the  horrid  murder  of 
our  late  glorious  sovereign  King  Charles  the  First  were  sol- 
emnly burned  at  the  session  house  in  the  Old  Bailey  by  the 
hand  of  the  common  hangman."^  The  serious  attention  paid 
by  the  State  for  the  composition,  printing,  and  publication  of 
these  treatises  and  later,  by  an  adverse  sovereign,for  the  col- 
lection and  destruction  of  them,  shows  the  vigorous  practi- 
cal life  Latin  enjoyed  as  a  national  and  international  force. 

Milton's  were  not  the  only  books  in  Latin  authorized  by 
a  vigilant  Council  in  those  anxious  days  after  January,  1649. 
On  October  17  of  that  year,  it  was  ordered  that  500  copies  of 
Mr.  Hall  his  answer  to  Mr.  Prynne  be  printed  in  Latin,  and 
the  charge  of  it  be  defrayed  by  the  Council."^  Again,  Octo- 
ber 15,  1650,  it  was  ordered  "that  Mr.   Needham  do  put  into 

1  Masson  IV,  224. 

2  Do. ,  230. 

3  Masson  VI,  193. 

■t  Bishop  John  Hall.     Masson  IV,  147. 

—79— 


Latin  the  Treatise  which  he  hath  written  in  answer  to  a 
Spanish  piece  written  in  defense  of  the  murder  of  Mr.  As- 
cham,"'  the  ambassador  of  the  commonwealth  to  Spain, 
assassinated  there  by  royahsts  while  engaged  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  mission.  In  no  direction  did  the  Commonwealth 
keep  stricter  watch  than  toward  the  continent,  to  help  their 
own  cause  and  hinder  their  enemies'  in  the  Latin  contro- 
versy that  was  waging  around  the  name  of  Charles  L 

The  use  of  Latin  as  a  modern  living  language  had  not 
been  perfected  nor  extended  in  England  as  on  the  continent. 
Scholarship  had  attained  its  height  in  Holland  and  France  in 
such  world-celebrities  as  Salmasius,  Grotius,  Vossius,  etc., 
with  whom  no  name  in  England  could  compare  until  the 
Latin  prose  of  Milton  made  its  way  in  triumph  over  the  con- 
tinent. Then  the  learned  Englishman  became  an  object  of 
admiration  abroad,  where  learning  was  more  appreciated 
than  in  the  narrow  island,  and  he  was  importuned  to  go  into 
France  and  Italy,  and  was  sought  after  by  foreign  visitors 
to  the  day  of  his  death,  not  because  of  his  fame  as  poet  but 
as  Latin  antagonist  of  Salmasius.-  Englishmen  themselves 
conceded  their  inferiority  in  scholarship,  that  is,  for  the 
most  part,  in  knowledge  and  fluency  in  Latin. 

Of  Robert  Fludd,  who  made  his  name  de  Fliictibus,  a 
physician  practicing  in  London  and  fellow  of  the  College  of 
physicians.  Wood  wrote:  "He  was  esteemed  by  many  schol- 
ars a  most  noted  philosopher,  an  eminent  physician,  and  one 
strangely  profound  in  obscure  matters.  .  .  .  His  books  which 
are  mostly  in  Latin  are  many  and  mystical:  and  as  he  wrote 
by  clouding  his  high  matter  with  dark  language,  which  is 
accounted  by  some'*  no  better  than  canting,  or  the  phrase  of 
a  mountebank;  so  he  spoke  to  his  patients,  amusing  them 
with  I  know  not  what,  till  by  his  elevated  expressions  he 
operated  into  them  a  faith-natural,  which  consequently 
contributed  to  the  well  working  of  physic.  They  are 
looked  upon  as  slight  things  among  the  English   notwith- 

1  Masson  IV,  229. 

2  Masson  V,  404. 

3  E.  g.,  the  philosopher  Hobbes. 

-80- 


standing  by  some  valued,  particularly  by  Mr.  Selden,  who 
had  the  author  of  them  in  high  esteem.  The  foreigners  prize 
and  behold  them  as  rarities,  not  that  they  are  more  judicious 
than  the  English,  but  more  inquisitive  in  such  difficulties, 
which  has  been  the  reason  why  some  of  them  have  been 
printed  more  than  once."' 

Of  Joseph  Allein's  Theologiae  Philosophicae,  sive  Philos- 
ophiae  Theologicae  Specimen,-  written  in  1661,  Wood  said 
that  it  had  been  "licensed  for  the  press,  but  being  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  such  books  having  too  few  buyers  in  England, 
none  are  yet  found  that  will  be  at  the  charge  of  printing  the 
said  book."  In  1676,  when  David  Skinner  drafted  a  Latin 
prospectus  of  his  forthcoming  edition  of  Milton's  Latin  State 
Letters,  he  began:  "Be  it  known  to  all  the  world,  whether 
in  the  Universities  or  in  London,  as  well  as  to  booksellers,  if 
there  are  any  with  more  than  usual  knowledge  of  Latin,  and 
also  to  all  foreigners  whatsoever," — seeming  unconsciously 
to  have  divided  the  world  w-ho  cared  for  his  Latin  book  into 
two  classes,  the  "learned  of  England"  and  "all  foreigners 
whatsoever."-'  The  parliamentary  party  in  England  was  in 
particular  charged  with  \vant  of  learning,  and  it  was  a  sur- 
prise that  such  a  Latinist  as  Milton  should  have  risen  from 
that  number.  The  following  compliment  w^as  paid  to  the 
associates  of  Cromwell  by  the  author  of  the  Regit  Sanguinis 
Clamor,  published  in  1652:  "The  Parricides  were  alarmed 
at  the  fame  of  the  great  work  of  Salmasius— not  at  the  read- 
ing of  it;  for  what  one  here  or  there  among  these  scoundrels 
understands  Latin?"' 

A  curious  comment  on  the  scholarship  of  the  day,  show- 
ing that  eloquence  was  in  words  rather  than  ideas,  and  that 
a  greater  virtue  lay  in  Latin  itself  than  in  the  arguments  it 
conveyed,  is  found  in  the  controversies  between  Milton  and 


1  Wood,  II,  Part  II,  618-622.  A  list  of  Fludd's  works  is  given  by  Wood. 
-  Specimens  of  Philosophical  Theology,  or  Theological  Philosophy. 

Wood,  Athenae,  III,  822. 
■^  Masson  VI,  796. 
^  Masson  IV,  455. 

—81— 


his  opponents  when  they  turn  aside  from  facts  and  proofs 
and  persuasion,  to  attack  each  other's  vocabulary  and  syn- 
tax. In  the  preface  to  the  first  Defense,  in  1650,  Milton 
rejoiced  to  find  flaws  in  the  grammarian's  grammar.  "I 
have  a  horrible  message  to  bring  of  you,"  he  cried,  address-^ 
ing  Salmasius,  "which  I  am  mistaken  if  it  strike  not  a  more 
heinous  wound  into  the  ears  of  all  grammarians  and  critics, 
provided  they  have  any  learning  and  delicacy  in  them,  to 
wit,  your  crowding  so  many  barbarous  expressions  together 
in  one  period  in  the  person  of  ( Aristarchus )  a  grammarian; 
and  that  so  great  a  critic  as  you,  hired  at  the  king's  charge 
to  write  a  defence  of  the  king  his  father,  should  not  only  set 
so  fulsome  a  preface  before  it,  much  like  those  lamentable 
ditties  that  used  to  be  sung  at  funerals,  and  which  can  move 
compassion  in  none  but  a  coxcomb;  but  in  the  very  first  sen- 
tence should  provoke  your  readers  to  laughter  with  so  many 
barbarisms  all  at  once.  'Persona  regis',  you  cry.  Where  do 
you  find  any  such  Latin?  or  are  you  telling  us  some  tale  or 
other  of  a  Perkin  Warbec,  who,  taking  upon  him  the  person 
of  a  king,  has,  forsooth,  committed  some  horrible  parricide 
in  England?  which  expression,  though  dropping  carelessly 
from  your  pen,  has  more  truth  in  it  than  you  are  aware  of. 
For  a  tyrant  is  but  like  a  king  upon  a  stage,  a  man  in  a 
vizor,  and  acting  the  part  of  a  king  in  a  play:  he  is  not  really 
a  king.  But  as  for  these  gallicisms,  that  are  so  frequent  in 
your  book,  I  won't  lash  you  for  them  myself,  for  I  am  not  at 
leisure;  but  shall  deliver  you  over  to  your  fellow- grammar- 
ians, to  be  laughed  to  scorn  and  whipped  by  them."' 

But  Milton  could  not  yield  his  high  advantage,  and  anon 
spoke  again  of  Salmasius's  "parricidal  barbarisms"  and 
"miserable  bald  Latin,"  with  other  insinuations  against  the 
style  and  learning  of  the  protagonist  for  royalty;  whom  he 
abused  as  a  grammarian,  the  shame  of  grammarians,  the 
perpetrator  of  solecisms,  as  "altogether  ignorant  both  of 
Latin  and  common  sense."  At  one  place  Milton  shouted  an 
apostrophe   to  the   English   fugitives:     "So  many  bishops, 


1  Milton's  Prose  Works,  I,  8-10. 

—82— 


doctors,  lawyers,  who  pretend  that  all  learning  and  ingen- 
uous literature  is  fled  out  of  England  with  yourselves,  was 
there  not  one  of  you  that  could  defend  the  king's  cause  and 
your  own,  and  that  in  good  Latin  also,  to  be  submitted  to 
the  judgment  of  other  nations,  but  that  this  brainsick,  beg- 
garly Frenchman  must  be  hired  to  undertake  the  defence  of 
a  poor  indigent  king,  surrounded  with  so  many  infant  priests 
and  doctors?"' 

In  the  second  Defense  a  similar  attack  was  made  upon 
the  language  of  the  Regit  Sanguinis  Clamor.  "You  would 
suppose,"  wrote  Milton,  referring  to  the  author  of  the 
Clamor,  supposed  to  be  Alexander  Morus,  "that  his  language 
was  rather  Oscan  than  Latin;  or  that  he  was  croaking  like 
the  frog  of  a  slimy  pool.  Then  to  show  you  how  much  he  is 
a  master  of  iambics,  he  makes  two  false  quantities  in  a  single 
word,  making  one  syllable  long  where  it  ought  to  be  short, 
and  another  short  where  it  ought  to  be  long:  — 

'Hi  trucidato  rege  per  horrendum  nefas.'  "- 

John  Phillips,  Milton's  nephew  and  pupil,  followed  his 
uncle  and  master  in  style  of  controversy.  In  1652  he  pub- 
lished in  London  Responsio  ad  Apologiam  Anonymi  cujusdam 
Tenebrionis  pro  Rege  et  Populo  Anglican/)  Infantissimam.^ 
He  called  his  antagonist  "unlearned,  insipid,  a  plunderer  in 
Latin,  arrogant  and  languid;  yet  the  further  we  proceed  the 
more  inane  and  lean  you  always  turn  out,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  some  commonplace  adages  and  distichs,  which 
you  had  learnt  by  heart,  I  believe,  when  a  school-boy,  and 
which,  to  prevent  your  readers  from  denying  you  some  little 
sort  of  half-scholarship,  you  labor  to  insert  by  hook  or  crook, 
you  seem  to  have  exhausted  all  the  rest  of  your  very  small 

1  Milton's  Prose  Works,  I,  204. 

2  These  having  committed  the  horrible  crime  of  slaying  a  king.  This 
fragment  is  from  certain  Latin  verses  in  Regii  Sanguinis  Clamor.  The 
mistaken  vowels  are  the  u  and  i  in  trucidato.  Milton's  Prose  Works, 
I,  242. 

3  Reply  to  the  most  silly  apology  of  some  anonymous  rascal  for  the 
king  and  people  of  England.     Masson,  IV,  470. 

-83- 


provision  of  arguments,  sense  and  Latin. '^ — "^Tn  the  last 
chapter,"  says  Masson,  commenting  on  Phillips's  piece,, 
"there  is  a  biting  return  to  the  subject  of  the  horribly  bad 
Latin  of  the  Apologist,  with  a  collection  of  some  of  his  more 
glaring  solecisms  by  way  of  specimen.  "Tarn  castus  ut  exem- 
plum  praebuit. '  'Totiens  purgatum  ut  nil  praeter  nomen. 
manere  potuit. '  'Tanto  acumine  ut  maxima  pars  mundl 
mirantur  et  silent.^  '  "  Milton  providently  assisted  Phillips- 
in  revising  the  language  of  the  pamphlet,  since  his  own 
name  was  defended  in  it,  and  his  reputation  abroad  was  at 
stake.  .  . 

We  have  passed  in  review  the  contemporary  estimates 
put  on  Latin  for  international  communication,  and  the  advan- 
tages involved  for  Englishmen  in  its  use  in  books  intended 
for  foreign  readers.  If  we  look  into  the  nature  of  these  lit- 
erary productions,  we  find  them  divided  into  the  broad  classes 
of  political  and  legal,  scientific,  biographical  and  historical, 
and  religious  writings.  On  such  subjects  Englishmen  often 
had  a  message  for  all  mankind  and  therefore  wrote  it  in  the 
language  which  the  world  could  read. 

Political  writings  were  for  the  most  part  controversial, 
and  it  was  during  the  political  disturbances  of  164G  and  1660 
that  the  chief  argumentative  contests  were  waged  between 
the  English  at  home  and  English  or  foreigners  on  the  conti- 
nent. The  literature  on  the  execution  of  Charles  I  was 
abundant  in  both  languages,  and  translations  frequently 
passed  from  the  one  to  the  other.  The  first  notable  work  to 
appear  on  this  tremendous  question  was  the  /-':^w>  h'anu.'.xr^  in 
English  in  164.9;  a  work  regarded  as  being  so  powerful  and 
affecting  that  in  the  same  year  it  was  translated  into  Latin 
by  Dr.  John  Earle  at  the  command  of  Charles  H.  Its  full 
title  in  translation  was  J-'-'o'"'-'  l^'i^ri/.t/.r;^  ijel  Imago  Regis  Caroli 
in  illis  suis  Aerumnis  et  Solitudine,-  and  publication  took 
place  at  The  Hague.     The  book  was  thus  busy  at  its  task  in 


1  Masson  IV,  473.     The  fault  with  all   these  examples  is  the  use  of 
the  indicative  instead  of  subjunctive  after  ut. 

2  Masson  IV,  131:  Eikon  Basilike,  or  Image  of  King  Charles  in  those 
lonely  miseries  of  his, 

-84— 


two  lanffuaijes,  reacliinp:  all  the  learned  abroad,  all  the  people 
<of  En^-land  high  and  low.  In  refutation  of  the  l'-'-'''''^  Milton 
brought  forth  in  English  F.ixovoxXdffTris\  or  Image- Breaker, 
which  was  likewise  put  into  Latin  to  carry  the  war  into  Eu- 
rope against  the  translated  form  of  the  enemy's  book.  The 
translation  was  the  work  of  Lewis  Du  Moulin,  brother  of  the 
royalist  Peter  Du  Moulin,  and  History  Professor  at  Oxford. 
A  French  translation  of  the  same  book  was  made  by  Mr. 
Durie,  at  the  order  of  the  Council  of  State,  to  counteract  a 
French  version  of  the  l--'~'-(»-'  ii'j^'^o.iy.r;  prepared  by  the  order  of 
Charles  II.  ^ 

By  November  1,  1649,  the  distinguished  jfrenc'h  scholar, 
Claudius  Salmasius,  had  brought  out  on  the.  , continent  for 
Charles  II  a  Defensio  Regia,'  a  ponderous  work  assailing  in 
vehement  Latin  the  English  regicides  and  glorifying  the 
martyred  king.  The  English  government,  being  anxiously  on 
the  alert  for  such  manoeuvres,  directed  the  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Tongues  to  bring  up  the  opposite  side,  ai?d,  acccord- 
ingly  about  March  1651  there  appeared  in  London  Johannis 
Miltoni  Angli  pro  Popido  Anglicano  Defensio,  contra  Claudii 
Anonymi,  alias  Salmasii,  Defensiorpem  i^egrmm.^  The  Council 
was  pleased  by  the  Defense  and  voted  copious  thanks  to  the 
defender  on  June  18,  1651.  This  same  year  thf re  wa^s  issued 
at  Antwerp  by  a  refugee  English  clergynaan  ^.r  duodecimo 
volume  of'  195  pages,  with  the  title:  Pro  Rege,  et  Popido 
Anglicano  Apologia,  cmitra  Johannis  Polypragmatfci  (alias 
Miltonii  Angli)  Defensionem  Destruciivam  I^egis  et  Populi 
AnglicaniJ  Here  is  the  remarkable  spectacle  of  an  English- 
man in  exile  in  Holland  publishing  to  Europeans  a  Latin 

1  These  facts  are  gathered  from  Masson  IV,  131,  315,  448,  and  V,  216. 

2  Masson  IV,  166.     Defense  of  the  King. 

•^  Defense  of  the  people  of  England,  by  John  Milton,  Englishman, 
•against  the  Defense  of  the  King  of  Claude  the  Anonymous,  alias  Sal- 
masius.    Masson  IV,  312. 

4  Apology  for  the  King  and  People  of  England,  in  answer  to  John  the 
Busybody's  (alias  John  Milton  the  Englishman's)  Defense  of  the  Kin^r 
and  English  People  to  their  ruin.     Masson  IV,  347, 

-85- 


argument  against  another  Latin  pamphlet  by  an  Englishman 
safe  at  home,  on  a  subject  of  English  concern.  The  author 
of  the  Apologia  was  later  found  to  be  John  Rowland,  an 
English  pastor.  His  work  was  an  important  one,  though  in 
very  bad  Latin,  An  answer  to  it  was  prepared,  on  the  per- 
mission of  Milton,  by  his  nephew  John  Phillips  with  a  book 
of  258  pages,  published  in  1652  and  entitled:  Johannis  Phil- 
ippi  Angli  Responsio  adApologiam  anonymi  Cujusdam  Tene- 
brionis.  Mention  of  this  work  was  made  above  (page  83) 
where  attention  was  called  to  Phillips's  attack  on  his  oppo- 
nent's Latin, 

In  this  same  year,  1652,  there  sounded  from  the  other 
side  of  England,  that  is  to  say,  from  Ireland,  a  shot  in  the 
battle  of  words  around  the  name  of  Charles,  It  was  a  pamphlet 
let  entitled:  Charles  I,  Britanniarum  Rex  a  securi  et  calamo 
Miltonii  vindicattisJ  The  unknown  author  brought  what 
learning  he  could  muster  to  the  side  of  his  king,  "Salmasius, " 
he  said  in  his  Dedication  to  Charles  II,  "seems  to  me  to  have 
kept  silence  too  much  under  his  attacks  from  Milton,  though 
he  is  generally  sharp  and  sedulous  in  avenging  calumnies. 
Unequal  to  the  task  though  I  am,  I  have  taken  his  side,  and 
instituted  as  it  were  a  preliminary  skirmish,  till  he  shall  col- 
lect his  forces  away  from  the  field,  and  bring  on  the  real 
battle".  But  Salmasius  was  past  fighting  and  was  no  more 
heard  from  during  his  life. 

Another  pamphlet  for  the  year  1652  was  issued  at  The 
Hague  anonymously  and  entitled:  Regit  Sanguinis  Clamor 
ad  Coelum  adversiis  Parricidas  Anglicanos.'-  The  book  eulo- 
gized Salmasius  and  "other  well-affectioned  and  learned 
men",  Milton  not  being  of  the  number.  Against  this  new 
attack,  as  earlier  against  the  Defensio  Regis  of  Salmasius 
himself,  the  Council  of  State  had  recourse  to  the  approved 
polemic  strength  of  their  Latin  Secretary,  and  ordered  him  to 
prepare  a  reply.     For  six  months  the  great  protagonist  of 

1  Charles  I,  King  of  the  British  Isles,   vindicated  from   the  axe  and 
pen  of  Milton.     Masson  IV,  436  and  footnote. 

2  Cry  of  the  King's  blood  to  heaven  against  the  English  Parricides, 
Masson  IV,  453. 

—86- 


liberty  was  off  duty  as  translating  secretary,  evidently 
employed  on  the  answer  to  Regit  Sanguinis  Clamor;  which 
answer  appeared  in  London,  May  30,  1654,  as  Joannis  Miltoni 
Angli  pro  Populo  Anglicano  Defensio  Secunda:  contra  hifamem 
Libelliim  Anonymum  cui  titulus  'Regii  Sanguinis  Clamor  ad 
Caelum  adversus  Parr icidas  Anglicanos'."^  This,  like  others 
of  these  pieces  of  political  controversy,  was  a  sort  of  state 
paper,  ordered  by  the  government  and  written  by  a  paid 
author.  Milton,  in  his  second  Defense,  assumed  Alexander 
Morus  to  be  the  author  of  the  anonymous  pamphlet,  while 
Peter  Du  Moulin,  the  real  author,  was  pleased  for  the  present 
to  keep  his  name  concealed.  Morus  was  indeed  partly  in 
guilt,  being  responsible  for  the  dedicatory  epistle  to  Charles 
II  and  for  editing  the  entire  publication,  but  he  was  not 
willing  to  bear  the  whole  brunt  of  Milton's  irresistible  wrath. 
He  first  bought  up  all  the  copies  of  the  Defensio  Secunda  that 
he  could,  and  at  last  published  a  vindication  of  himself, 
entitled:  Alexandy'i  Mori,  Ecclesiastae,  Sacrarumque  Litter- 
arum  Professoris,  Fides  Publico,  contra  Calumnias  Joannis 
Miltoni,  Scurrae.'  This  apology  of  Morus  was  brought  out  at 
the  Hague,  in  1654,  and  curiously  enough,  by  the  perversity 
of  the  printer,  was  bound  up  in  the  same  volume  with  Mil- 
ton's Defensio  Secunda  which  Morus  had  done  his  best  to 
remove  from  the  sight  of  men.  The  first  issue  of  the  Fides 
Publica  being  incomplete,  the  finished  edition  was  brought 
out  the  following  year,  1655,  unembarrassed  by  the  associa- 
tion of  Milton's  offensive  work. ^  On  August  8  of  this  year 
Milton  published  a  rejoinder  to  the  original  Fides  Publica, 
with  an  appended  notice  of  the  supplement  and  with  the 
title:    Joannis  Miltoni^  Angli,  Pro  Se  Defensio  contra  Alex- 

1  Second  defense  of  the  People  of  England,  by  John  Milton,  English- 
man: in  reply  to  an  anonymous  and  infamous  pamphlet  entitled,  "Cry  of 
the  King's  Blood  to  Heaven  against  the  English  Parricides."  Masson 
I  V,  580-1. 

2  A  public  testimony  of  Alexander  Morus,  churchman  and  Professor 
of  Sacred  Literature,  in  reply  to  the  calumnies  of  John  Milton,  buffoon. 
Masson  V,  150-1. 

3  Masson  V,  192. 

—87- 


andrum  Morum,  Ecclesiasten,  Libelli  Famosi,  cut  titulus  'Re- 
gii  Sanguinis  Clamor  ad  Coelum  adversiLS  Parricidas  Angli- 
canos,'  authorem  recte  dictum."^  This  was  Milton's  farewell 
to  Morus,  and  concludes  his  efforts  to  destroy  the  "Cry  of 
the  King's  Blood,"  of  1652,  and  all  connected  with  it.  We 
may  now  go  back  to  the  year  1653,  and  consider  other  par- 
ticipants in  the  international  war  of  words  and  learning. 

This  year  witnessed  the  arrival  of  three  more  allies  for 
Salmasius,  in  the  form  of  Latin  pamphlets.  Two  of  these 
were  published  together  under  the  title:  Caspari  Zeigleri 
Lipsiensis  circa  Regicidiim  Anglorum  Exercitationes.  Accidit 
Jacobi  Schalleri  Dissertatio  ad  loca  quaedam  Miltoni.-  The 
authors  were  men  of  unwarlike  occupation,  Zeigler  being  a 
German  jurist,  Schaller  a  Doctor  of  Theology  and  Professor 
of  Practical  Philosophy;  but  they  were  excited  by  the  stir 
which  Milton's  anti-Salmasian  pamphlets  had  produced  among 
the  learned  of  Europe.  The  third  publication  of  the  year 
was  entitled:  Polemica,  sive  Supplementum  ad  Apologiam 
Anonymam  pro  Rege  et  Populo  Anglicano  adversus  Jo.  Miltoni 
Defensionem  Populi  Anglicani,  &c.  Per  Jo.  Roivlandnm, 
Pastorem  Anglicum,  1653."^  This  John  Rowland  had  written 
the  anonymous  pamphlet  against  Milton,  to  which  John  Phil- 
lips had  replied;^  and  in  this  later  publication  he  ■t)oth  con- 
fessed his  name  and  acknowledged  with  some  emphasis. -the 
former  work,  bad  Latin  and  all. 

It  was  as  late  as  September  1660,  after  the  Restoration 
and  after  all  need  for  argument  had  ended,  that  the  rebuttal 

1  The  English  John  Milton's  Defense  for  Himself,  in  reply  to  Alex- 
ander Morus,  Churchman,  rightly  called  the  author  of  the  notorious  book 
entitled  'Cry  of  the  King's  Blood  to  Heaven  against  the  English  Parri- 
cides."    Milton  V,  198. 

2  Exercitations  of  Casper  Ziegler  of  Leipsic  concerning  the  Regicide 
of  the  English:  To  which  is  added  Jacobus  Schaller's  Dissertation  on 
some  passages  of  Milton.     Leyden,  1653.     Masson  IV,  534-5. 

3  Polemica,  or  Supplement  to  the  Anonymous  Apology  for  the  King 
and  People  of  England  against  John  Milton's  Defense  of  the  English 
People,  &c.     By  John  Rowland,  English  Pastor,  1653.     Masson  IV,   536. 

4  See  above,  page  86. 


of  Salmasius  aj^fainst  Milton's  first  Defense  of  1051  was  heard 
— a  feeble  and  broken  voice  from  the  grave.  The  title  of  the 
publication  was  Claudii  Salmasi  ad  Johannem  Miltonum  Re- 
sponsio,  opus  poi^tinmim.^  It  consisted  of  a  dedication  to 
Charles  1 1  by  Claudius  Salmasius,  soii  of  the  deceased  author; 
a  preface  of  50  pages;  two  completed  chapters,  and  part  of  a 
third  ending  abruptly.  The  chief  point  of  interest  in  the 
work  is  the  evidence  that  Milton's  picking  at  Salmasius's 
Latin  grammar  had  vexed  the  old  scholar  sorely:  he  retaliated 
by  ridiculing  Milton's  Latin  poetry  for  its  bad  quantities 
and  misused  words. 

So  ends  the  famous  political  controversy,  waged  with  all 
the  learning  the  age  could  afford.  The  return  of  Charles  1 1 
effectively  gave  the  palm  to  his  defenders,  and  delivered 
Milton's  publications  to  the  bonfire. 

The  controversy  about  the  overthrow  of  the  English  mon- 
archy may  suffice  to  illustrate  the  Latin  political  literature  of 
the  time.  Legal  treatises  will  find  their  best  exemplification 
in  the  works  of  the  great  lawyer  and  scholar,  John  Selden 
(1584-1654).  His  History  of  England  from  the  earliest  times 
down  to  the  Norman  Invasion,  written  in  1607,  with  the  title 
Analectou  Anglo-Britannicon,  was  followed  in  1610  by  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  laws  and. customs  of  the  Britons,  Saxons,  and 
Normans,  the  title  of  the  work  being:  Jani  Anglorum  Fades 
altera.-  His  Mare  Clausum  (The  Closed  Sea),  published  in 
1636,  was  a  defense  of  the  English  claim  of  maritime  prop- 
erty against  the  Mare  Ldberum  (the  Free  Sea)  of  Hugo  Gro- 
tius,  which  contended  on  behalf  of  the  Dutch,  that  the  high 
seas  were  open  to  all.  "Charles  I  was  so  pleased  by  Selden's 
performance  that,  by  an  order  of  the  privy  council,  it  was 
directed  that  one  copy  should  be  kept  in  the  archives  of  the 
council,  another  in  the  court  of  exchequer."-^  The  work  con- 
tinued to  be  regarded  as  the  most  telling  argument  for  Eng- 

1  Reply  of  Claudius  Salmasius  to  John  Milton:    a  posthumous  work. 
Masson  VI,  203-210. 

2  The  other  face  of  the  Janus  of  the  English. 

3  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.  sub  Selden. 

-89- 


lish  maritime  dominion  and  in  1653  the  Council  of  the  Com- 
monwealth ordered  "that  the  sum  of  £200  be  paid  out  of  the 
exigent  moneys  of  the  Council  to  Mr.  Marchamont  Needham, 
in  consideration  of  his  great  labour  and  pains  in  the  trans- 
lating of  Mr,  Selden'sbook  entitled  Mare  Clausum."^  This 
case  well  illustrates  the  linguistic  3omplexities  of  the  time: 
an  English  council  of  State  pays  a  year's  wages  to  an  Eng- 
lishman for  translating  into  the  vernacular  another  English- 
man's Latin  book  written  in  defense  of  national  claims  in 
reply  to  a  foreigner's  argument  in  Latin:  a  long  way  around 
the  circle  before  the  mind  of  Selden  came  to  be  delivered  to 
his  countrymen  at  large. 

In  1647  Selden  edited  the  early  English  law  treatise  Fleta, 
with  a  prefixed  dissertation  of  great  learning.-  In  1653  he 
assisted  Sir  Roger  Twysden  in  editing  ten  hitherto  unpub- 
lished works  on  English  History,  which  they  published  under 
the  title:  Decern  Historiae  Anglicanae  Scriptores.'''^  To  this 
Selden  prefixed  a  criticism  on  the  ten  Historians,  calling  it 
Judicium  de  Decern  HistoHae  Anglicanae  ScriptorihusJ  His 
last  work,  Vindiciae  (Vindications),  was  published  in  1653  as  a 
personal  defense  against  an  attack  upon  his  Mare  Clausum 
by  a  Dutch  jurist  Graswinckel.  These  last  two  works,  though 
not  in  themselves  legal  treatises,  grew  out  of  his  legal  inquiries 
and  writings. 

Selden  directed  his  attention  not  only  to  English  Law 
and  History,  but  also  to  Oriental  investigations  which  resulted 
in  the  publication  of  numerous  Latin  works.  His  De  Diis 
Syriis,^  1617,  "established  his  fame  as  an  oriental  scholar 
among  the  learned  in  all  parts  of  Europe. "  His  exposition  of 
Jewish  laws  were  contained  in  a  series  of  works  which 
enjoyed  great  celebrity  abroad:    De  Su^cessionibus  in  bona 

1  Masson  IV,  450. 

3  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.  sub  Selden. 

3  Ten  Writers  of  English  History. 

^  Critique  on  the  Ten  Writers  of  English  History. 

5  The  Syrian  Gods.     Encyc.  Britan.  11th  ed.  sub  Selden. 

-90- 


defunctorum  ad  leges  Ebraeoriun,^  1631;  De  Siiccessione  in 
Pontificatum  Ebraeorum,'-  1636;  DeJure  Naturali  et  Gentium 
juxta  Disciplinani  Ebraeorum,'^  1640;  De  Anyio  Civiliet  Calen- 
dar io  Veteris  Ecclesiae  sen  Reipublicae  Judaicae,^  1644;  Uxor 
Ebraica  sen  de  Niiptiis  et  Divortiis  Veterum  Ebraeorum  libri 
tres,^  1646;  De  Synedriis  Veterum  Ebraeorum,''  1650.  These 
learned  treatises,  bringing  to  Europeans  in  many  cases  their 
first  detailed  acquaintance  with  oriental  civilization  and  an- 
tiquities, exemplify  the  important  part  which  Latin  played 
in  seventeenth  century  scholarship. 

The  scientific  literature  of  that  day  may  be  understood 
to  comprehend  natural  philosophy,  medicine,  mathematics, 
logic  and  philosophy  proper,  and  philology.  Didactic  treatises 
on  these  subjects,  coming  chiefly  from  the  Universities,  and 
addressed  to  scholarship  wherever  it  could  be  found  at  home 
or  abroad,  naturally  sought  expression  in  the  honored  and 
far  reaching  Latin.  English  philosophers  and  investigators 
met  with  less  patronage  for  their  books  among  their  country- 
men than  among  the  advanced  thinkers  and  savants  of  the 
continent,  and  therefore  looked  for  fame  and  encourage- 
ment where  it  was  more  certainly  to  be  found.  Thomas  Hob- 
bes,  for  example,  received  his  first  instigation  toward  phil- 
osophy while  traveling  abroad,  and  his  first  important  phil- 
osophical work,  de  Cive  (The  Citizen),  was  published  abroad 
in  Latin. 

The  number  of  writers  producing  what  we  have  called 

1  On  the  Succession  to  the  property  of  deceased  persons  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  Hebrews. 

2  On  the  Succession  to  the  High  Priesthood  among  the  Hebrews. 

3  On  the  Law  of  Nature  and  of  Nations  according  to  the  Discipline  of 
the  Hebrews. 

i  On  the  civil  year  and  calendar  of  the  ancient  church,  or  Jewish 
commonwealth. 

■T  The  Hebrew  Wife,  or  marriage  and  divorce  among  the  ancient 
Hebrews;  in  HI  books. 

6  On  the  Councils  of  the  Ancient  Hebrews.  —Diet.  Nat.  Biog.  sub 
Selden. 

—91— 


scientific  works  and  using  Latin  as  the  medium  of  their 
teaching  were  legion,  and  it  is  impossible  to  present  any 
survey  of  the  field.  To  do  so  would  be  to  review  the  literary 
history  of  the  scientific  thought  of  the  century.  It  will 
suffice  to  consider  representative  scientific  writers,  as  we 
have  in  the  case  of  a  legal  writer,  and  to  see  to  what  extent 
they  used  Latin  in  preference  to  or  along  with  English  in 
treating  scientific  questions.  For  this  purpose  we  shall  first 
review  the  works  of  the  philosopher  Thomas  Hobbes  (1588- 
1679). 

The  standard  edition  of  his  works  is  that  of  Sir  W.  Moles- 
worth,  in  sixteen  volumes,  including  everything  he  wrote: 
poetry,  history,  philosophy,  controversy,  and  translation.  Of 
these  sixteen  volumes,  five,  or  nearly  one  third,  are  in  Latin. 
Those  in  this  language,  which  are  of  scientific  nature,  are  as 
follows:  (1)  Objectiones  ad  Cartesii  MeditcUiones,^  1641;  (2) 
De  Cive,  or  Elementa  Philosopkiae  de  Cive,'^  1642;  (3)  part  of 
a  preface  to  Mersenne's  Ballistica,'^  1644;  (4)  Tractatus 
Opticus,^  1644;  (5)  Elementorum  Philosopkiae  sectio  prima. 
DsCorpore/'  1655;  (Q)  Elementorum  Philosopkiae,  sectio  secun- 
da.  De  Homine,^  1650;  (7)  Examinatio  et  emendatio  Matke- 
maticae  Hodiernae,  qualis  explicatiir  in  libris  Johannis  Wal- 
lisii  .  .  distributa  in  sex  dialogos,"'  1660;  {8)Dialogos  Physicus 
deNatura  Aeris, ^  IQQl;  (9)  Problemata  Pkysica,^  1662;  (10) 
De  Princvpiis  et  Ratiocinatione  Geometrarum,^'^  1666;  (11) 
Quadrutara  Circuli;    Cubatio  Spkaerae;    Dwplicatio    Cubi, 

1  Objections  to  the  Meditations  of  Decartes. 

2  The  Citizen,  or,  Elements  of  Philosophy  concerning  the  Citizen. 

3  Mersenne,  a  French  philosopher,  and  correspondent  of  Hobbes's. 
-1  A  treatise  on  optics. 

n  Elements  of  Philosophy,  section  I,  on  Body. 
G  Elements  of  Philosophy,  section  1 1,  on  Man. 

7  Examination  and  correction  of  the  present-day  mathematics,  such 
as  is  set  forth  in  the  books  of  John  Wallis;  divided  into  six  dialogues. 

8  Dialogue  in  Physics,  on  the  nature  of  Air. 
0  Problems  in  Physios. 

10  The  principles  and  reasoning  of  Geometry. 

—92— 


1669;!  (12)  Rosetum  Geometncumr  1671;  (13)  Lux  Mathe- 
matica:  exciissa  CoUisionibiis  Johannis  Wallisii  et  Thomae 
Hobbesii,^  1672;  (14)  Principia  et  Problemata  aliquot  Geo- 
metrica,  ante  desperatanunc  breinter  expUcata,^  1674. 

These  are  the  philosophical  works  written  originally  in 
Latin.  Those  in  English  will  be  presented  for  comparison  in 
a  corresponding  list,  also  in  order  of  publication.  (1)  Hu- 
man Nature,  or  the  Fundamental  Elements  of  Policy,  1650; 
(2)  De  Corpore  Politico,'''  1650;  (3)  Leviathan;  or  the  Mat- 
ter, Form,  and  Power  of  a  Commonwealth,  Ecclesiastical  and 
Civil,  1651;  (4)  Of  Liberty  and  Necessity,  1654;  (5)  Ques- 
tions concerning  Liberty,  Necessity,  and  Chance,  in  reply  to 
Bramhall's  "Defense  of  the  true  Liberty  of  Human  Action", 

1656;    (6)    ^riyu'V.  WyzMiizriiia^    Wyp'O.y.la^  ',4vr.'ro/;r£;'ai'     AfiafUia^.  or 

Marks  of  the  Absurd  Geometry,  Rural  Language,  Scottish 
Church  Politics,  and  Barbarisms  of  John  Wallis,  1657;  (7) 
Considerations  upon  the  Reputation,  Loyalty,  Manners,  and 
Religion  of  Thomas  Hobbes,  1662,  in  answer  to  Wallis's 
"Holbbius  Heauton-timoroumenos";  (8)  Three  papers  pre- 
sented to  the  Royal  Society  against  Dr.  Wallis,  w^ith  consid- 
erations on  Dr.  Wallis's  Answer  to  them,  1671;  (9)  Decam- 
eron Physiologicum,  or  Ten  Dialogues  of  Natural  Philosophy, 
1678;  (10)  Dialogue  between  a  Philosopher  and  a  Student  of 
the  Common  Law  of  England,  1681. 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  two  lists  that  a  larger  number 
of  the  philosophical  works  of  Hobbes  were  originally  wTitten 
in  Latin,  and  the  difference  becomes  more  apparent  when  it 
is  considered  that  most  of  the  English  papers  w^ere  contro- 
versial, only  the  first  three  mentioned  being  complete  and 
substantial  productions.  The  great  scheme  to  which  the 
philosopher  devoted  his  best  thought  and  which  was  to  com- 

1  Squaring  of  the  circle;  Cubing  of  the  sphere;  Doubling  of  the  Cube. 

2  Geometric  rosary. 

3  The  light  of  Mathematics:   struck  forth  by  the  collisions  of   John 
Wallis  and  Thomas  Hobbes. 

4  Several  principles  and  problems  of   Geometry,  hitherto  despaired 
of,  but  now  briefly  explained. 

On  the  Body  Politic. 

—93— 


prehend  the  entire  range  and  order  of  his  philosophy,  was 
consigned  to  the  language  of  learning,  and  all  the  rest  of  his 
writings  may  be  said  to  have  been  side-issues  with  him. 
The  great  scheme  comprehended  three  subjects:  (1)  Body, 
(2)  Man,  (3)  Citizen,  or  Commonwealth,  and  the  three 
works  treating  them  were  De  Corpore,  De  Homine,  De  Give, 
all  in  Latin.  These  were  not  published  in  the  order  named 
and  as  originally  designed,  because  the  political  disturbances 
in  England  and  the  violence  of  Long  Parliament  required 
immediate  discussion  and  correction,  and  called  forth  first  in 
1642,  De  Give,  which  logically  should  have  been  last  in  the 
large  philosophic  plan.  The  fact  that  Hobbes  chose  Latin 
for  these  works,  as  the  language  of  philosophical  expression, 
is  all  the  more  remarkable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  no  one  of 
his  day  saw  more  clearly  the  perverse  teaching  of  the  schools, 
and  the  nonsense  and  absurdities  of  mere  words;  no  one 
more  relentlessly  exposed  the  false  tyranny  of  Latin  and 
Greek  in  the  modern  world.  He  perceived  and  satirized  the 
vanity  of  language  for  its  own  sake;  and  by  writing  his  main 
philosophical  works  in  Latin,  he  thereby  declared  the  fitness 
of  that  tongue  as  an  instrument  of  philosophic  expression 
and  as  a  vehicle  of  philosophic  doctrine. 

His  great  work.  Leviathan,  comprehending  his  three- 
fold plan  of  philosophy,  was  indeed  in  English,  but  it  was  an 
adaptation  of  previous  Latin  writings  to  the  immediate  needs 
of  Englishmen,  who  when  it  was  published  in  1651  agreed  on 
anything  but  a  clear,  systematic  conception  of  government. 
The  publication  of  the  other  English  treatises.  Human  Na- 
ture and  De  Coryore  Politico,  was  likewise  called  forth  by 
the  immediate  political  situation  of  unhappy  England. 

It  is  to  be  noted  from  the  above  Latin  list,  that  Hobbes 
preferred  the  learned  tongue  not  only  for  his  philosophy, 
but  also  for  the  more  strictly  scientific  works:  Tractntus 
Opticus,  De  Natura  Aeris,  Problemata  Physica;  and  for  his 
mathematical  studies:  De  Pri)icipiis  et  Ratiocinationc  Gco- 
metrarum,  Quadratura  Circuli,  Rosetum  Geometricum,  Prin- 
cipia  et  Problemata  Gcometrica.  For  controversy  with  his 
fellow  Englishman,  Professor  Wallis,  on  mathematical  ques- 

-94— 


tions,  he  employed  sometimes  the  one  language,  sometimes 
the  other.  For  religious  discussion  and  controversy,  and  for 
historical  discourse,  which  in  his  treatment  were  directed 
chiefly  to  his  countrymen,  he  held  to  his  native  speech.  His 
own  logical  view  of  the  proper  choice  and  use  of  language 
was  expressed  in  his  treatise  on  Human  Nature,  Chapter 
Xni,  §10:— 

"Forasmuch  as  whosoever  speaketh  to  another  intendeth 
thereby  to  make  him  understand  what  he  saith,  if  he  speak 
to  him  in  a  language  which  he  that  heareth  understandeth 
not,  or  use  any  word  in  other  sense  than  he  believeth  is  the 
sense  of  him  that  heareth,  he  intendeth  also  not  to  make 
him  understand  what  he  saith,  which  is  a  contradiction  of 
himself.  It  is  therefore  always  to  be  supposed,  that  he 
which  intendeth  not  to  deceive,  alloweth  the  private  inter- 
pretation of  his  speech  to  him  to  whom  it  is  addressed." 

To  pass  now  to  medical  treatises,  we  find  they  were  reg- 
ularly published  in  Latin.  It  was  "an  age  when  every  phy- 
sician wrote  and  conversed  in  Latin  with  ease  at  least,  if  not 
with  elegance."^  The  medical  wTitings  of  Dr.  William 
Harvey  (1578-1658),  the  discoverer  of  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  the  period  in  point  of  lin- 
guistic custom.  His  w^orks,  published  during  his  life,  were 
all  in  Latin,  as  follows:  Exercitatio  Anatoviica  de  motii  cor- 
dis et  sanguinis,'  1628;  Exercitationes  duae  anatomicae  de 
circidatione  sanguiyiis,  ad  Johannem  Riolanum,  filium,  Pa- 
risiensem,^  1649;  Exercitationes  de  generatione  animalium, 
quibus  accedunt  quaedam  de  partu,  de  membranis  ac  humori- 
bus  uteri,  et  de  conceptione,*  1651;  and  Anatomia  Thomae 

1  Willis's  Harvey,  314. 

2  Anatomical  exercise  on  the  motion  of  the  heart  and  blood. 

3  Two  anatomical  exercises  on  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  to  Jean 
Riolan,  the  younger,  of  Paris.  These  exercises  were  letters  replying  to 
Riolan's  attack  on  Harvey's  theory. 

4  Exercises  on  the  generation  of  animals,  to  which  are  added  several 
on  child-birth,  on  the  membranes  and  humors  of  the  uterus,  and  on  con- 
ception. 

—95— 


Parr,^  1669,  postumous. 

In  addition  to  these  published  treatises  there  remain  the 
manuscript  notes  from  which  Harvey  dehvered  his  lectures 
at  the  College  of  Physicians.  In  those  lectures  he  first  made 
public  mention  of  his  ideas  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood, 
covering  ninety-six  pages,  with  many  intercalated  English 
sentences.- 

Harvey's  "lectures  show  their  author  to  have  been 
widely  read.  He  had  studied  Aristotle  and  Galen  evidently 
in  Latin  editions,  and  had  a  profound  respect  for  Aristotle 
and  a  professional  respect  without  much  personal  admiration 
for  Galen.  He  quotes  Aristotle  oftener  than  any  other  au- 
thor, and  after  Aristotle  Galen.  ...  Of  the  Latin  poets  he 
cared  most  for  Virgil,  and  knew  Plautus  and  Horace,  and  of 
the  prose  writers  Caesar,  Cicero,  and  Vitruvius.  He  had 
read  St.  Augustine,  and  was  well  versed  in  the  Bible."-  Of 
Harvey  Aubrey  wrote  that  "he  understood  Greek  and  Latin 
pretty  well,  but  was  no  critique,  and  wrote  very  bad  Latin." 
But  Willis  contends  that  Aubrey  mistook  Harvey's  bad  hand- 
writing for  indifferent  style,  and  concludes  that  his  "Latin 
is  generally  easy,  never  inelegant,  and  not  infrequently 
copious  and  imaginative;  he  never  seems  to  be  fettered  by 
the  language  he  is  using.  "^ 

Philology  and  criticism,  issuing  chiefly  from  the  Univer- 
sities, and  intended  only  for  scholarly  reading,  would  have 
been  in  Latin  even  if  no  expectation  of  foreign  notice  had 
been  cherished.  As  representative  of  this  field  of  knowledge 
and  writing,  Thomas  Farnaby  (1575-1647)  may  be  consid- 
ered, being  the  chief  classical  scholar  and  the  chief  school- 
master of  his  time.  He  opened  a  school  in  London,  and  his 
pupils,  for  the  most  part  sons  of  noblemen,  and  "other  gen- 
erous youths"  soon  numbered  three  hundred.  Himself  with 
three  ushers  conducted  the  school.  "Before  1629  Farnaby 's 
fame  as  a  schoolmaster  and  classical  scholar  was  known  to 

1  The  anatomy  of  Thomas  Parr. 

2  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.,  sub  Harvey. 

3  Willis's  Harvey,  312-314. 

-96— 


all  the  scholars  of  Europe,  and  from  1630  to  1(542  he  was  in 
repeated  correspondence  with  G.  J.  Vossius.  .  .  .  His  repu- 
tation as  a  classical  scholar  led  to  a  commission  from  the 
king  to  prepare  a  new  Latin  grammar  to  replace  the  one 
already  in  use  in  the  public  schools."  He  completed  the 
work  in  1641,  and  petitioned  the  House  of  Lords  to  grant 
him  the  monopoly  promised  it  by  Charles  I.  In  spite  of  his 
reputation  for  scholarship  and  his  peaceful  vocation,  Far- 
naby  was  ruined  by  the  Civil  War,  and  died  before  it  was 
brought  to  an  end. 

Farnaby's  scholarly  labors  fall  into  two  classes:  first, 
his  editions  and  annotations  of  the  classics;  second,  his  rhet- 
orical and  grammatical  works.  The  former,  which  attained 
extraordinary  popularity  throughout  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, supplied  to  the  students  of  Roman  literature  elaborate 
notes  and  such  philological  information  and  criticism  as  the 
age  delighted  in.  Following  is  a  list  of  the  classics  he  edited 
and  annotated;  though  many  editions  of  each  were  issued, 
only  the  date  of  the  first  is  given.  (1)  Juvenal's  and  Per- 
sius's  Satires,  1512;  (2)  Seneca's  Tragedies,  1613;  (3)  Mar- 
tial's Epigrams,  1615;  Lucan's  Pharsalia,  1618;  (5)  Virgil's 
Works,  1684;  (6)  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  1637;  (7)  Terence's 
Comedies,  1651.  Those  eight  Roman  authors,  necessary  in 
themselves  for  the  culture  of  the  seventeenth  century  Eng- 
lishman, became  all  the  more  excellent  and  popular  when 
adorned  with  the  profuse  and  learned  Latin  notes  of  Thomas 
Farnaby. 

The  rhetorical  and  grammatical  works  of  this  great 
scholar  were  as  follows:  (1)  Index  Rhetoriciis  Scliolis  et  In- 
stitutioni  tenerioris  aetatis  accommodatus,^  1625;  (2)  Phrases 
Oratoriae  elegentiores  et  Poeticae,- 1628;  (3)  '//  "^z?  'A>Oo).<,yia.^ 
\l.Oo/.oy{a,  Florilegium  Epigrammatiim  Graecorum  eorumque 
Latino  versu  a  variis  redditorum,^  1629:  (4)  Systema  Gram- 

1  Rhetorical  Catalogue  prepared  for  schools  and  for  pupils  of  ten- 
derer age. 

2  Choice  phrases  of  oratory  and  poetry. 

3  The  Anthology  of  the  Anthology,  a  Choice  collection  of  Greek  epi- 
grams, with  their  rendering  into  Latin  verse  by  various  hands. 

—97- 


maticum,^  1629;  (5)  Phrasiologia  Anglo-Lafina- (not  dated) ; 
(6)  Tabulae  Graecae  Linguae^  (not  dated);  {7)Sijntaxis*  (not 
dated).  These  seven  works  by  the  industrious  scholar, 
together  with  the  eight  annotated  classics  mentioned  before, 
constituted  the  product  of  his  genius— the  contribution  he 
made  to  his  age  for  the  better  understanding  and  more  skilful 
employment  of  the  Latin  tongue.  These  fourteen  publica- 
tions, by  one  celebrated  scholar,  show  how  philosophy  and 
criticism  were  themselves  written  in  the  language  which  it 
was  their  business  to  elucidate  and  teach. ^"^ 

In  religious  affairs  England  was  an  object  of  particular 
interest  to  foreign  nations,  being  only  by  a  century  separated 
from  Papal  Rome  and  not  as  yet  regarded  by  all  as  irrecon- 
cilably separated.  In  disputes  between  English  and  foreign 
divines,  as  between  English  and  foreign  politicians,  Latin 
had  no  rival.  And  it  was  with  peculiar  traditional  fitness 
that  religious  expositions  wore  the  Latin  dress,  the  sacred 
decoration  of  the  church  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  and 
the  glory  of  the  great  schools  which  were  the  nurseries  of 
religion.  An  interesting  international  politico-religious  con- 
troversy was  carried  on  concerning  the  oath  of  allegiance 
demanded  by  James  I  of  his  Catholic  subjects.  The  king 
himself  had  written  in  English  the  Apology  for  the  Oath  of 
Allegiance.  This  was  translated  into  elegant  Latin  by  Henry 
Savile,  and,  according  to  Wood,  ''flying  in  that  dress  as  far 
as  Rome,  was  by  the  Pope  and  the  conclave  sent  to  Francis 
Suarez  at  Salamanca,  with  a  command  to  answer  it.  When 
he  had  perfected  the  work,  which  he  called  Defensio  Fidei 
Catholicae  &c.  cum  Responsione  ad  Apologiam  pro  Juramento 

1  Systematic  Grammar.  This  was  the  work  prepared  on  the  order  of 
Charles  I. 

2  Anglo-Latin  phraseology. 

3  Tables  of  the  Greek  Language. 

•1  Syntax. 

•■'  The  career  of  Farnaby  is  gathered  from  Diet.  Nat  Biog.,  sub  Far- 
naby. 

—98— 


FidelitatU  &c.,'  it  was  transmitted  to  Rome  for  a  view  of  the 
inquisitors,  who  blotted  out  what  they  pleased,  and  added 
whatsoever  might  advance  the  Pope's  power."  For  this  and 
many  other  loyal  achievements,  Savile  was  not  to  be  without 
his  reward,  rendered  in  the  lanj^uage  which  was  the  voice  of 
honor  as  well  as  of  power.  When  the  news  of  his  death 
reached  Oxford,  "the  vice-chancellor  and  doctors  ordered  a 
speech  to  be  publicly  spoken  by  the  Academians  in  memory 
of  so  worthy  a  benefactor  and  scholar  as  Sir  Henry  was. 
Which  being  accordingly  done  by  Tho.  Goffe  of  Ch.  Ch.  the 
speech  was  shortly  afterward  made  public,  with  many  copies 
of  verses  by  the  poets  of  the  universities  added  to  it,  with 
this  title,  Ultima  Linea  Savilii!"^ 

Another  example  of  ecclesiastical  zeal  was  Richard 
Mocket,  Warden  of  All  Souls  in  Oxford,  and  domestic  chap- 
lain to  George  Abbot,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  To  him 
has  been  ascribed  the  tract  upholding  the  obligation  of  the 
oath  of  allegiance,  and  entitled  *God  and  the  King'.  .  .  .  The 
work  was  'Imprinted  by  his  Majesties  special  privilege  and 
command,'  in  London  in  1615,  in  both  Latin  and  English; 
London,  1616,  in  Latin  only;  Edindurgh,  1617,  in  one  or  both 
languages.  The  book  was  commanded  to  be  taught  in  all 
schools  and  Universities,  and  by  all  ministers  of  the  Church, 
and  to  be  purchased  by  all  householders  in  England  and 
Scotland."  The  success  of  this  work  was  not  duplicated  by 
another  book  of  Mocket's,  1616,  when  he  published  in  London 
a  volume  containing  in  Latin,  Bishop  Sewel's  Apology,  the 
Church  Catechism,  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  Liturgy  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  the  Book  of  Ordination  of  Bish- 
ops, Priests,  and  Deacons.  To  these  he  joined  an  original 
treatise  entitled  Doctrina  et  Politia  Ecclesiae  Anglicanae,^ 

1  Defense  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  etc.,  together  with  a  reply  to  The 
Apology  for  the  Oath  of  Allegiance,  etc. 

2  The  Last  Line  of  Savile.  Wood,  II,  Part  1 1,  314-15.  Also  Diet. 
Nat.  Biog.,  sub  Goffe. 

3  Doctrine  and  Polity  of  the  Church  of  England.  Diet.  Nat.  Biog., 
srib  Mocket.  •  Also  Wood.  Fasti,  Part  II,  232,  and  Fuller,  Church  Hist 
III,  298-9. -Nichols'  Edition. 

—99— 


"which  was  a  general  view  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  in 
the  English  church,  mainly  prepared  for  the  information  of 
foreigners.  The  book  offended  the  king,  and  by  public  edict 
"as  condemned  and  burnt  in  1617."  These  two  Latin  works 
of  Mocket,  the  one  by  its  popular  reception,  the  other  by 
its  offi3ial  condemnation  and  suppression,  typify  the  imme- 
diate power  that  Latin  w^as  understood  to  wield  in  current 
ecclesiastical  and  religious  discussions. 

Just  as  it  was  the  custom  among  the  schools  to  edit  the 
classics  with  Latin  notes,  so  the  learned  divines  prepared 
Latin  commentaries  on  the  books  of  Scripture,  paying  partic- 
ular attention  to  all  passages  on  which  different  churches 
placed  contradictory  interpretations.  It  was  the  opportunity 
for  the  scholar  not  only  to  unfold  the  dark  meaning  of  Bible 
verses,  but  especially  to  exercise  himself  in  the  Latin  and 
logic  which  he  had  industriously  learned  in  the  University. 
For  example,  Robert  Abbot,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  wrote  a 
Latin  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  "with  large 
sermons  upon  every  verse,  in  which  he  handled,  as  his  text 
gave  him  occasion,  all  the  controverted  points  of  religion  at 
this  day.''  Such  long-drawn-out  interpretations  and  minute 
distinctions  made  by  scholars  on  the  pretense  of  their  Univer- 
sity training  in  the  languages  met  the  bitterest  rebuke  of  the 
philosopher  Thomas  Hobbes.  He  said  that  the  faithful  read- 
ing of  the  Scriptures  was  least  of  all  to  be  trusted  to  those 
who,  because  they  knew  Greek  or  Latin,  or  both  languages, 
and  loved  knowledge,  "consequently  take  delight  in  finding 
out  the  meaning  the  most  hard  texts,  or  in  thinking  they 
have  found  it,  in  case  it  be  new  and  not  found  out  by  others. 
These  are  therefore,"  he  continues,  "they,  that  pretermitting 
the  easy  places  which  teach  them  their  duty,  fall  to  scanning 
only  the  mysteries  of  religion.  .  .  .  These  and  the  like  points 
are  the  study  of  the  curious,  and  the  cause  of  all  our  late 
mischief  [the  Civil  War],  and  the  cause  that  makes  the 
plainer  sort  of  men,  whom  the  Scripture  had  taught  belief  in 
Christ,  love  towards  God,  obedience  to  the  King,  and  sobriety 


1  Wood.  Fasti,  Part  1 1,  226. 

—100— 


of  behavior,  forget  it  11,  and  place  their  reliance  in  the  dis- 
putable doctrines  of  these  your  wise  men,"' 

The  Sabbath  question  was  one  of  those  endlessly  disputed 
matters  for  the  learned,  and  the  cause  of  perpetual  di^^sen- 
sion  in  the  church.  The  literature  of  the  Sabbath  Question 
is  the  subject  of  a  work  in  two  volumes  published  in  Edin- 
burgh in  1865,  by  Robert  Cox.  A  glance  into  these  volumes 
shows  what  prominent  part  Latin  plaved  in  the  seventeenth 
century  on  the  celebrated  question.  The  number  of  works 
published  between  1615  and  1660  on  the  question  were, 
according  to  Cox,  seventy-two.  Of  these  six  were  published 
in  England  in  Latin,  ten  abroad  in  Latin;  the  remainder, 
fifty-six,  being  in  English,  were  published  in  England.  The 
proportion  of  Latin  books  to  the  total  output  was  slightly 
over  22^^^:  the  Latin  proportion  of  total  publications  in  Eng- 
land was  nearly  lO'^.  The  question  was  not  only  one  for  the 
exercise  of  learning,  but  in  good  measure  for  that  ambitious 
learning  which  found  satisfactory  expression  only  in  dignified 
and  far-reaching  Latin. 

Nothing  could  illustrate  the  combined  religious  and  lingu- 
istic enthusiasm  of  the  times  better  than  the  publication,  in 
1657,  of  the  famous  Polyglott  Bible  under,  under  the  editorial 
direction  of  Dr.  Brian  Walton,  with  the  assistance  of  many 
eminent  scholars  from  both  Universities  "This  most  worthy 
person,  Dr.  B.  Walton,  "  says  Wood,-  "believing  most  eminent 
for  his  learning  especially  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  Eastern 
languages,  did  undertake  and  happily  perform  the  pub- 
ishing  of  the  Biblia  Pobjglotta  printed  in  Lond.  in  six 
volumes  in  folio,  an.  1657,  wherein  the  sacred  text  was,  by 
his  singular  care  and  foresight,  printed,  not  only  in  the  vul- 
gar Latin,  but  also  in  the  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Chaldee,  Samari- 
tan, Arabic,  Aethiopic,  Persic,  and  Greek  Languages,  each 
having  its  peculiar  Latin  translation  joined  therewith;  and 
an  Apparatus  fitted  for  each,  for  the  better  understanding  of 
those  tongues. ' '  This  whole  work  represents  the  intense  inter- 

1  Behemoth,  231-2,  Molesworth,  VI. 

2  Fasti,  Part  1 1,  82. 

—101— 


est  of  the  times  in  language,  and  especially  the  predomi- 
nance of  Latin  wherever  learning,  religion,  and  authority 
were  concerned. 

Biography  and  history,  if  widely  ambitious  or  proud  of 
their  academic  authorship,  spoke  Latin.  For  example,  "The 
History  of  the  Reign  of  Henry  VI  I",  the  first  work  done  by 
Sir  Francis  Bacon  after  his  retirement  into  private  life, though 
originally,  in  1622,  in  English,  was  later  turned  into  Latin 
under  the  author's  supervision.^  Henry  Savile,  already  men- 
tioned as  translator  of  James  Fs  Apology  for  the  Oath  of 
Allegiance,  wrote  Vita  Thomae  Bradivardini  Aixhiep.  olim 
Cantuariensis.^  About  1647,  there  was  published  at  Paris  in 
Latin  the  famous  history  of  Montrose's  exploits  in  Scotland, 
v/ith  the  title:  De  Rebus  sub  imperio  illustrissimi  Jacobi 
Montisorarum  Marchionis  Praeclare  gestis  Commentarii,^  the 
author  being  George  Wishart.  chaplain  to  Montrose.  In  1657 
Dr.  William  Rawley,  friend  and  secretary  of  Sir  Francis 
Bacon  during  the  last  year  of  his  life,  brought  out  a  memoir, 
in  English,  of  the  philosopher  and  published  a  Latin  transla- 
tion of  it  in  the- next  year.  It  remains  the  most  important 
and  authentic  witness  we  possess  of  Bacon.^  At  Paris  in  1649 
George  Bate,  a  most  noted  physician  of  the  time,  "chief 
physician,"  says  Wood,^  "to  Oliver  while  he  was  general,  and 
afterwards  when  protector,  and  [who]  did  not  stick  (tho'  he 
pretended  to  be  a  concealed  royalist)  to  flatter  him  in  a  high 
degree",  published  Elenchus  Motiium  nuperottim  in  Anglia, 
simul  ac  Juris  regii  ac Parliamentarii  bi'cvis  NarratioS'  The 
first  part  of  the  Elenchus  was  translated  into  English  by  an 

1  Spedding,  VI,  7. 

2  Wood,  Fasti,  Part  II,  314.     Life  of  Thomas  Bradwardine,  formerly 
Archb.  of  Canterbury. 

3  Commentaries  on  the  glorious  deeds  of   the  Marquis  of   Montrose 
during  the  reign  of  the  most  illustrious  James. 

4  Spedding,  Preface  IX. 

5  Wood,  Athenae  III,  828. 

0  Review  of  the  recent  commotions  in  England,  together  with  an  ac- 
count of  the  royal  and  parliamentary  rights. 

—102— 


unknown  hand  and  printed  in  1052  in  London.  The  second 
part  was  printed  in  Latin  in  1G61  in  London,  in  1662  in  Am- 
sterdam, and  in  the  following  year  in  London  again  together 
with  the  first  part.  A  slight  third  part  was  composed  later. 
It  was  a  book  much  praised,  on  a  subject  which  England 
would  never  lose  interest  in,  whether  the  story  were  told  in 
her  own  or  another  language. 

The  voluminous  writings  of  the  learned  Archbishop  of 
Armagh,  James  Usher  (1581-1656),  contained  important  his- 
torical works  in  Latin,  which  language  he  employed  for  no 
display'  or  reputation  but  for  the  practical  instruction  of 
mankind.  "His  learning  was  for  use;  and  his  topics  were 
suggested  by  the  controversies  of  his  age,  which  he  resolved 
to  probe  to  their  roots  in  the  ground  of  history."  His  first 
printed  work,  in  1613,  was  Gravissimae  Questionis  de  Chris- 
tianaruni  Ecclesiarum,  in  Occidentis  praesertim  partibus,  ah 
Apostolicis  temporibus  ad  nostram  usque  aetatem,  continua 
successione  et  stahi,  Historica  Explicatio.^  This  work  was 
designed  to  carry  out  the  unfinished  argument  of  John  Jewel, 
who  in  1562  published  his  Apologia  pro  Ecclesia  Anglicana^ 
to  prove  to  continental  scholars  and  churchmen  that  the 
Anglican  doctrines  and  practice  were  in  conformity  with 
those  of  the  primitive  church.  Another  learned  treatise  in 
ecclesiastical  history  by  Usher  was  the  Britannicarum  Eccle- 
siarum Historia^  of  1639;  and  the  most  important  of  all  his 
productions  was  issued  within  the  years  of  1650-4:  Annales 
Veteris  et  Novi  Testameyiti^  This  work  set  forth  the  scheme 
of  Biblical  chronology  since  known  as  Usher's,  which  was 
introduced  by  some  unknown  authority  into  the  margin  of 

1  Historical  Treatment  of  the  important  question  of  the  continuous 
succession  and  the  state  of  the  Christian  churches,  especially  in  the  West, 
from  apostolic  times  down  to  the  present. 

3  Apology  for  the  church  of  England. 

3  History  of  the  Churches  of  Britain. 

4  Annals  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament. 

—103- 


reference  editions  of  the  Authorized  Version.'  Usher  pub- 
lished many  other  works  of  religion  and  controversy,  in  both 
Latin  and  English,  but  his  most  learned  and  influential  pro- 
ductions went  abroad  to  teach  in  the  universal  tongue.  It 
was  fitting  that  a  Latin  sentence  should  have  been  his  first 
inspiration  toward  historical  research,— one  of  Cicero's  stim- 
ulating utterances :  '  'Nescire  quid  antea  quam  natus  sis  acci- 
derit,  id  est  semper  esse  puerum."^ 

1  Usher's  writings  are  mentioned  in  full  and  partly  discussed  in  Diet. 
Nat.  Biog.  and  Encyc.  Brit.  11th  ed.  sub  Usher. 

2  Not  to  know  what  happened  before  you  were  born  is  to  be  always 
a  child.     Masson  I,  408. 


SECTION  III. 

LATIN  AS  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  ENGLISH. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Epistolary  Latin. 

The  use  of  Latin  in  the  Universities  was  for  exercise  and 
preparation;  in  the  court,  for  international  correspondence 
and  state-papers,  it  was  a  necessity.  Between  these  two 
limits — academic  preparation  on  the  one  hand  and  interna- 
tional communication  on  the  other— lies  the  great  field  of 
practical  and  literary  intercourse  among  Englishmen  them- 
selves, and  the  language  for  this  purpose,  one  would  say,  was 
naturally  and  appropriately  the  language  of  the  people.  But 
the  truth  is  that  even  in  strictly  domestic  or  internal  affairs 
Latin  had  a  share  in  the  speech  of  Englishmen.  There  were 
two  strong  reasons  why  the  ancient  language  thus  infringed 
on  the  native  modern.  First,  the  educated  Englishman  had 
behind  him  a  school-career  of  long  years  which  had  drilled 
into  his  system  the  vocabulary,  syntax,  and  ideas  of  the  old 
language;  and  the  pride  and  pleasure  growing  out  of  the  habit 
of  Latin  academic  exercises  encouraged  the  continuance  of 
the  habit  into  later  life.  Along  with  this  habit  and  training 
there  was  developed  an  esteem  for  Latin  as  possessing  in 
itself  a  superior  power  and  virtue  for  expression  and  a  supe- 
rior dignity  which  every  self-respectin;.^-  scholar  would  do 
well  on  occasion  to  appropriate.  In  the  second  place,  the 
long  history  of  the  language,  with  its  inestimable  service 
to  literature,  to  the  state,  and  especially  to  the  church, 
rendered  it  an  object  of  veneration;  and  contemporary 
civilization,  at  home  and  abroad,  was  all  intertwined  and 
overgrown  with  the  language,  laws,  and  ideals  of  the  ancient 
Romans.     Scholarship,  which  was  a  precious  word  to  seven- 

—105— 


teenth  century  Englishmen,  meant  excellence  in  the  classic 
tongues,  and  recognized  Cicero  as  the  great  model  for  liter- 
ary style. 

It  was  therefore  natural  that  for  the  purposes  of  dignity, 
formal  respectability,  external  propriety,  Latin  was  employed 
in  some  cases  where  English  would  otherwise  seem  the  nor- 
mal and  most  convenient  means  of  communication.  The 
influence  of  the  Latin  fashion  extended  beyond  the  necessi- 
ties of  international  communication,  and  included  occasions 
when  English,  but  for  that  fashion,  would  inevitably  have 
been  used.  Such  occasions  were  the  writing  of  letters,  the 
publication  of  books,  especially  books  of  poetry,  and  speech- 
making.  In  these  fields,  both  languages  held  claims  to 
the  same  territory.  Though  English  generally  prevailed, 
yet  custom,  dignity,  scholarly  propriety,  and  individual  taste 
often  led  to  the  employment  of  Latin. 

In  the  matter  of  private  correspondence  between  English- 
men, even  learned  Englishmen,  the  vernacular  was  regularly 
employed.  The  older  language  was  sometimes  chosen  by 
students,  who  were  under  the  unbroken  spell  of  the  classics 
and  were  drawn  to  Latin  in  letter-writing  for  the  sake  of 
exercise  in  composition  or  for  display  of  newly  acquired 
scholarship.  Sometimes  maturer  scholars  used  Latin  in  let- 
ters of  extreme  formality,  or  on  themes  closely  associated 
with  learning  and  dignified,  academic  traditions,  or  wherever 
the  writer  supposed  that  Latin  would  flatter  and  conciliate 
his  worthy  correspondent. 

For  example,  in  1634  one  Dr.  Barron  of  Aberdeen  ven- 
tured to  address  Archbishop  Laud,  then  at  the  height  of  his 
power,  in  regard  to  "ye  pacifying  of  ye  five  articles."  The 
tone  is  one  of  extreme  humility;  the  letter  opening  with  an 
abject  apology  for  intrusion  on  the  time  and  attention  of  his 
most  reverend  excellency — amplissime  et  reverendUsime 
Praesul.  The  serious  occasion  of  the  letter,  its  exceeding 
formality,  and  its  origin  in  classic  Aberdeen,  all  conspired  to 
put  it  in  the  most  ceremonious  and  fashionable  dress.' 

1  Masson  I,  568,  ft.  note. 

-106- 


Attention  has  previously  been  called  to  the  letters  of  S'r 
Henry  Wotton  and  to  the  fact  that  he  used  Latin  to  address 
Englishmen  only  in  exceptional  cases.  One  of  these  excep- 
tions occurred  when  he  was  abroad  as  ambassador  and  wrote 
home  to  his  chief  and  king.  James  I  piqued  himself  on  his 
polite  learning,  and  Sir  Henry,  like  all  other  Englishmen  of 
the  day,  knew  well  enough  what  kind  of  flattery  pleased  the 
pedantic  old  monarch. 

Dr.  William  Harvey,  who  employed  Latin  regularly  in 
his  lectures  and  scientific  writings,  and  in  his  correspondence 
with  foreigners,  did  not  turn  to  English  even  when  address- 
ing his  own  countrymen.  To  Dr.  Baldwin  Hamey,  an  able 
English  physician  and  an  intimate  friend,  Harvey  wrote  a 
letter  of  professional  character,  using  Latin  out  of  respect, 
to  the  learning  and  science  which  both  were  able  to  boast. 
The  letter  is  brief,  but  the  salutation  lacks  nothing  of  super- 
lative dignity,  being  as  follows:  Vir  doctissime,  huma- 
nissime,  mihi  carissime!  ^ 

Open  letters  between  Englishmen,  especially  in  learned 
controversy,  were  more  likely  to  be  in  Latin,  since  the  dis- 
play of  eloquence  and  learning  counted  as  much  as  sense  and 
argument.  For  instance,  when  John  Camden  published  his 
famous  Britannia,  Brooke  published  a  review  of  it  with  the 
title,  "A  Discovery  of  Certain  Errors  in  the  Much-com- 
mended Britannia."  To  this  Camden  replied  in  an  angTy 
Latin  letter,  addressed  not  to  the  offender  but  Ad  Lectorem 
(To  the  Reader),  referring  to  Brooke  only  as  Quida^n  (A 
certain  fellow),  or  hte  (He).  Brooke,  feeling  keenly  both 
the  contempt  and  the  Latin  superiority  of  his  great  oppo- 
nent, cried  out  in  reply:  "He  considers  me  as  an  Indivi- 
duum  vagiim  (a  mere  generality) ,  and  makes  me  but  a  Quidam 
in  his  pamphlet,  standing  before  him  as  a  school-boy,  while 
he  whips  me.  Why  does  he  reply  in  Latin  to  an  English 
accusation?    He  would  disguise  himself  in  his  school-rhetoric; 


1  Most  learned,  humane,  and  dear  Sir!  The  English  sounds  thin  and 
almost  ridiculous  in  comparison  with  the  rhythmical  amplitude  of  the 
original.     For  the  entire  letter,  see  Willisls  Harvey,  296-7. 


-107- 


wherein,  like  the  cuttle-fish,  being  stricken,  he  thinks  to 
hide  and  shift  himself  away  in  the  ink  of  his  rhetoric."^ 

When  in  1655  the  philosopher  Hobbes  turned  to  mathe- 
matical inquiries,  he  was  met  and  confuted  by  Dr.  Wallis, 
the  Savilian  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Oxford,  with  a 
Latin  review  of  Hobbes's  Geometry:  Elenchus  Geometriae 
Hobbianae.'  Hbbbes,  thinking  his  scientific  reputation  at 
stake,  turned  his  work  into  English,  with  the  sarcastic  addi- 
tion of  "Six  Lessons  to  the  Professors  of  Mathematics  in 
Oxford  "  Wallis  replied  also  in  English  with  a  piece  entitled, 
"Dae  Correction  of  Mr.  Hobbes,  or  School  discipline  for  not 
saying  his  Lessons  Right,"  and  twitted  him  with  having 
fallen  back  on  the  vulgar  English.  "What  moved  you," 
questioned  Wallis,  "to  say  your  lessons  in  English,  when  the 
books  against  which  you  do  chiefly  intend  them  were  written 
in  Latin?  Was  it  chiefly  for  the  perfecting  your  natural 
rhetoric  whenever  you  thought  it  convenient  to  repair  to  Bil- 
lingsgate? You  found  that  the  oyster- women  could  not  teach 
you  to  rail  in  Latin.  Now  you  can,  upon  all  occasion,  or 
without  occasion,  give  the  titles  of  fool,  beast,  ass,  dog,  &c., 
which  I  take  to  be  but  barking;  and  they  are  no  better  than 
a  man  might  have  at  Billingsgate  for  a  box  o'  the  ear."-' 

Milton's  private  correspondents  were  few,  and  his  letters 
short  and  nearly  always  in  Latin.  In  a  foregoing  chapter 
account  has  been  taken  of  his  Latin  letters  to  foreigners:  we 
here  consider  those  addressed  to  Englishmen  Of  the  thirty- 
one  Familiar  Letters,  twelve  were  written  to  his  countrymen: 
two  to  his  former  tutor,  Thomas  Young;  three  to  Alexander 
Gill,  former  usher  at  St.  Paul's;  two  to  Charles  Diodati,  old 
school-mate  of  St.  Paul's;  one  to  Richard  Heath,  his  former 
pupil;  four  to  Richard  Jones,  also  a  former  pupil.  These  let- 
ters, hke  the  rest  of  Milton's,  were  fluent,  rhetorical  exer- 
cises. The  poet  seems  to  have  regarded  epistolary  com- 
munications as  opportunity  for  literary  display,  for  Latin  elo- 
quence: and  his  biographer  only  now  and  then  finds  in  them 

1  Disraeli's  Calamities  and  Quarrels  of  Authors,  495. 

2  Review  of  the  Geometry  of  Hobbes. 

3  Disraeli's  Calamities  and  Quarrels  of  Authors,  464-6,  and  footnote. 

-108— 


any  notable  matter  of  fact.  Those  to  young  Gill  turn  chieflv 
on  the  Latin  poetry  which  the  ambitious  scholar  had  been 
sending,  or  on  the  Latin  and  Greek  verses  Milton  sent  him  in 
return.  To  Young  nothing  is  said  except  words  of  praise  for 
his  old  teacher,  or  of  thanks  for  a  recent  letter.  To  Diodati 
there  are  some  eloquent  and  highly  rhetorical  declarations  of 
friendship,  and  accounts  of  ambitious  literary  plans.  These 
letters  to  Young,  Gill,  and  Diodati  are  all  dated  before  1637; 
those  to  Heath  and  Jones  belong  to  the  busy  and  serious 
period  of  the  Latin  Secretaryship,  and  are  briefer,  plainer, 
and  more  matter  of  fact.  In  a  letter  to  Heath  dated  Decem- 
ber 13,  1652,  Milton  observed  the  unfitness  of  Latin  for  any- 
thing like  regular  and  sincere  correspondence.  "Your  future 
communications,"  he  said,  "may,  if  you  please,  be  in  your 
own  language,  lest  (though  you  are  no  mean  proficient  in 
Latin  composition)  the  labor  of  writing  should  make  each  of 
us  more  averse  to  write;  and  that  we  may  freely  disclose 
every  sensation  of  our  hearts  without  being  impeded  by 
the  shackles  of  a  foreign  language."'  Correspondence  in 
Latin  between  Englishmen  could  not  help  but  thrust  forward 
the  language-consciousness,  p^nd  impede  spontaneity  and 
naturalness.  Letter  writing  in  the  foreign  tongue  had  no 
place  except  in  strict  formality  or  fashionable  dignity.  From 
his  various  correspondents  Milton  received  letters  in  the  same 
language  he  employe  1,  and  from  Diodati  even  Greek  letters, 
two  of  which  are  extant. - 

In  the  matter  of  institutional  correspondence,  it  seems  to 
have  been  the  custom  for  official  letters  issued  from  the  Uni- 
versities by  the  Vice-chancellor  or  the  Heads  of  Colleges  to 
be  in  Latin.  Communications  addressed  to  Parliament,  or  the 
Chancellor,  or  to  the  Archbishop,  presenting  petitions, 
answering  inquiries  or  maintaining  points  in  controversy, 
knew  no  language  but  the  learned  one.  The  voice  of  the 
Universities  was  not  voice  of  the  people,  and  to  have  used 
English  in  formal  utterance  would  have  been  to  confess  ignor- 

1  Familiar  Letter  XIII. 

2  Masson  I,  117. 

-109— 


ance,  indolence,  or  unacademic  ideals.  The  force  of  a  letter 
or  an  argument  lay  not  so  much  in  the  propriety  of  thought 
and  justice  of  a  claim  as  in  the  complimentary  form  and  elo- 
quent periods  in  which  it  was  couched. 

In  making  answers  to  addresses  from  the  Universities, 
the  King,  or  Parliament,  or  Chancellor,  or  Archbishop,  chose 
sometimes  the  one  language,  sometimes  the  other,  not  always 
regarding  it  necessary  to  maintain  the  standard  set  by  the 
schools.  Charles  I  was  always  indifferent  to  Latin  forms 
when  his  own  personal  use  of  them  was  concerned.  James  I, 
on  the  contrary,  never  lost  an  occasion  to  show  his  zeal  for 
learning  and  academic  standards.  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  as 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  when  he  put  his 
communications  in  Latin,  used  a  salutation  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows: "Almae  Matri  et  inclytae  academiae  Cantabi'igiensi" ,^ 
his  subscription  being:  "AmiciLS  vester  maxime  Jidelis  et 
benovohis."^  His  letters  when  in  English  were  brief,  as  if  the 
press  of  business  prevented  close  personal  attention  to  his 
writing 

Official  letter-writing  for  the  Universities  was  included 
in  the  functions  of  the  Public  Orator.  In  1619  George  Herbert 
was  chosen  Orator  for  the  University  of  Oxford.  "The  first 
notable  occasion,"  says  Walton, ^  "of  shewing  fitness  for  this 
employment  .  .  was  manifested  in  a  letter  to  King  James, 
upon  the  occasion  of  his  sending  that  University  his  book 
called  'BasilikonDoron';^  and  their  orator  was  to  acknowledge 
this  great  honor,  and  return  their  gratitude  to  his  Majesty 
for  such  condescension;  at  the  close  of  which  letter  he  writ, 

Quid  Vaticanam  Bodleianamque  objicis  hospes! 
Unicus  est  nobis  Bibliotheca  liber. ^ 

This  letter  was  writ  in  such  excellent  Latin,  and  was  so 

1  To  my  Alma  Mater,  the  renowned  University  of  Cambridge. 

2  Your  friend  in  all  loyalty  and  goodwill.     Heywood's  Cambridge,  II, 
265;  279;  291. 

■i  Walton's  Lives,  266-7  (Ed.  1852). 

4  The  King's  Gift. 

•■>  Stranger,  why  do  you  mention  the  Vatican  or  Bodleian?    We  have  a 
ibjrary  in  one  single  book. 

—110— 


full  of  conceits,  and  all  the  expressions  so  suited  to  the  g'enius 
of  the  King,  that  he  inquired  the  Orator's  name,  and  then 
asked  William  Earl  of  Pembroke,  if  he  knew  him?  whose 
answer  was  'That  he  knew  him  very  well,  and  that  he  was 
his  kinsman;  but  he  loved  him  more  for  his  learning  and 
virtue,  than  for  that  he  was  of  his  name  and  family.'  At 
which  answer  the  King  smiled,  and  asked  the  Earl  leave 
that  he  might  love  him  too,  for  he  took  him  to  be  the  jewel 
of  that  University."  No  wonder  if  Latin  was  held  in  high 
esteem  and  ambitiously  studied  by  young  men,  when  a  King's 
acquaintance  was  the  reward. 

In  view  of  his  success  in  donating  the  Basilicon  Doron  to 
Oxford,  James  decided  to  present  the  collected  edition  of  his 
works  to  the  University  of  Cambridge.  The  thanks  he 
received  were  contained  in  a  long  and  highly  complimentary 
Latin  letter,  beginning: 

Ser'enissime  Domine  Noster, 
Jacobe  Invictissime, ' 
and  ending: 

Humillimi  Servi  subditique  vester 
Procancellarius  Reliqiiusque  Senatus  Cantabrigiensis.^ 

Such  terms  were  the  highest  tribute  to  the  King's  power  and 
greatness,  and  he  relished  them  exceedingly. 

Petitions  for  particular  favors,  even  in  lengthy  and  labo- 
rious forms,  did  not  always  prove  successful  with  the  easily 
flattered  monarch.  A  long  Latin  petition  from  Cambridge 
to  James  in  1617,  praying  for  a  new  charter,  received  answer 
with  due  respect  in  the  same  language,  but  the  request  was 
not  granted.  Petitions  to  Parliament,  though  in  English, 
sought  favor  by  the  attendance  of  a  Latin  letter.  In  1642, 
for  example,  Cambridge  sent  to  Parliament  an  English  peti- 
tion, imploring  the  protection  of  cathedral  churches  and 
lands.     The  petition  was  accompanied  and  recommended  by 

1  Our  most  serene  master,  invincible  James. 

2  Your  most  humble  servants  and  subjects,  Vice-Chancellor  and  Senate 
of  Cambridge.     Cooper's  Cambridge,  II  I,  135. 

—Ill— 


a  letter  in  Latin,  apologizing  for  the  use  of  a  different  lan- 
guage in  the  petition,  Sed  quia,  the  letter  explained,  Lingua 
nativa  dolores  et  desideria  sua  foeliciiis  exprimit,  annexam  Lit- 
eris  Petitionem  benevolis  Auribus  excipietis.'^  The  iconoclastic 
Puritan  Parliament,  which  seemed  to  be  unfavorable  to 
learning  in  their  attack  on  the  Church,  would  probably 
understand  a  petition  better  in  English  than  in  Latin. 

Sometimes  the  formality  of  the  learned  style  was  dropped 
in  serious  and  urgent  correspondence.  A  notable  instance  is 
in  the  controversy,  in  1635,  about  the  claim  of  Archbishop 
Laud  to  the  right  of  visitation  to  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge The  Archbishop  addressed  the  Vice-chancellor, 
using  English;  the  Vice-chancellor  answered  in  the  same 
language,  sending  a  collection  of  reasons,  also  in  English, 
why  the  University  should  be  regarded  outside  the  Metropol- 
itan Jurisdiction.  When  no  agreement  could  be  reached 
between  them.  Laud  sent  to  King  Charles  a  petition  in  Eng- 
lish concerning  his  claim;  and  the  king  at  last  put  an  end  to 
the  controversy  by  issuing  a  decree  in  formal  Latin,  deciding 
in  favor  of  the  Archbishop. ^ 

This  is  one  of  the  few  instances  of  Charles's  use  of  Latin 
outside  of  legal  forms,  and  even  this  may  be  placed  in  that 
class.  Like  him,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  as  Chancellor  of 
Cambridge,  felt  more  easy  in  using  the  vernacular.  Even  on 
the  solemn  occasion  in  1626  when  Charles  acknowledged  and 
approved  the  choice  of  Buckingham  as  Chancellor,  and  when 
the  Duke  himself  acknowledged  the  election,  both  wrote 
plain  English.  The  Duke's  salutation  sounds  even  to  our 
ears,  accustomed  to  the  grand  sonorous  form  of  that  day, 
exceedingly  democratic  and  unceremonious:  "Mr.  Vice- 
Chancellor  &  Gentlemen  the  Senate  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge."-^   There  is  some  suspicion  that  the  Duke  was 

1  But  because  the  vernacular  expresses  more  fitly  our  sorrows  and 
desires,  you  will  receive  with  generous  attention  the  accompanying  peti- 
tion.    Hey  wood's  Cambridge,  II,  439  40.     Rushworth  IV,  272. 

2  Heywood's  Cambridge,  II,  424-7. 
8  Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  192. 

-112- 


deficient  in  learning:,  for  Joseph  Meade,  fellow  in  the  Uni- 
versity, in  one  of  his  letters  cast  reflection  on  him  for  sit- 
ting in  the  Chancellor's  seat  on  his  first  visit  and  venturing 
only  the  two  words,  placet  and  admittatur^ 

But  the  University  was  not  to  be  shaken  from  her  an- 
cient dignity  and  self-possession  by  the  carelessness  of  King 
and  Duke.  She  replied  to  their  English  with  J^atin  letters  of 
considerable  length  and  abundant  superlatives.  On  July  7, 
1628,  when  Buckingham  was  about  to  lead  the  unpopular 
expedition  for  the  relief  of  Rochelle,  and  just  before  his  assas- 
sination, his  University  saluted  him  with  a  letter,  long  drawn 
out  in  Latin,  praising  his  past  benevolences,  grieving  for  his 
absence,  and  beseeching  a  continuance  of  his  favors.'  After 
the  Duke's  death,  the  Earl  of  Holland  succeeded  to  the 
Chancellorship,  and  the  superlatives  of  salutation  and  com- 
pliment were  directed  against  him:  Honoratissime  domine, 
dignissime  cancellarie.^ 

Royal  writs,  commissions,  and  proclamations,  though 
directed  to  Englishmen,  carried  the  traditional  stamp  of 
authority  by  being  in  Latin.  The  majesty  of  the  law  pre- 
ferred a  conservative  dress.  There  is  no  absolute  rule  for 
the  use  of  language  in  these  forms,  but  custom  favored  Latin. 
During  the  conflict  between  Charles  I  and  Parliament,  the 
party  which  clung  to  the  past  and  stood  on  the  law  employed 
the  old  language  more  regularly  in  legal  documents  than  did 
the  new  and  progressive  party  which  little  reverenced  tradi- 
tion and  appealed  directly  to  the  people.  In  1642,  just  before 
the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  Charles  issued  commissions 
for  the  levying  of  soldiers  in  the  various  shires,  and  the  Par- 
liament in  opposition  passed  its  ordinance  of  the  militia  and 
sent  out  officers  with  authority  to  raise  troops.  The  King's 
commissions  followed  the  legal  custom  of  being  in  Latin; 
Parliament,  having  no  such  precedent,  gave  its  order  and 

1  Masson  I,  129. 

2  Cooper's  Cambridge,  1 1 1,  202-4. 

3  Haywood's    Cambridge,    1 1,   479-80.     Most    honored    Lord,    most 
worthy  Chancellor. 

—113- 


authority  in  its  own  language.  Clarendon,  in  the  sixth  book 
of  his  History,  tells  how  the  parliamentary  officers  in  the 
southwest  took  advantage  of  the  royal  commission's  being  in 
Latin,  and  "translated  into  English  what  they  pleased;  per- 
suading the  substantial  yoemen  and  freeholders  that  at  least 
two  parts  of  their  estates  would,  by  that  commission,  be 
be  taken  from  them;  and  the  meaner  and  poorer  sort  of  people, 
that  they  were  to  pay  a  tax  for  one  day's  labor  in  the  week 
to  the  king;  and  that  all  should  be,  upon  the  matter,  no  better 
than  slaves  to  the  lords,  and  that  there  was  no  way  to  free 
and  preserve  themselves  from  this  unsupportable  tyranny, 
than  by  adhering  to  the  parliament,  and  submitting  to  the 
ordinance  for  the  militia;  which  was  purposely  prepared  to 
enable  them  to  resist  these  horrid  invasions  of  their  liberties." 
The  commission  itself  was  in  Latin,  but  the  letter  to  the  com- 
missioners in  English.  1 

In  1626,  when  Charles  dissolved  parliament,  he  caused  a 
commission  in  Latin  to  pass  under  the  great  seal  for  that 
purpose.-  On  March  10,  1629,  when  he  proposed  to  do  away 
with  parliaments  indefinitely,  he  issued  a  proclamation  of  dis- 
solution, and  then  ordered  the  Lord  Keeper  to  utter  the  com- 
mand for  dissolution,  which  was  in  the  same  plain  language.^ 

In  1636  the  King  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  Mayor  and 
Aldermen  of  (Cambridge,  and  on  that  occasion  deemed  it 
appropriate  to  use  Latin.  Other  notable  occasions  when  the 
language  was  employed  in  forms  addressed  to  Englishmen 
were  the  presenting  of  letters  patent  to  the  Lord  Constable 
of  England  for  the  trial  of  David  Ramsey  on  the  plea  of  Don- 
ald, Lord  Rea;*  and  the  issuing  of  a  Commission,  by  Charles  in 
1638,  under  the  great  seal  of  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  for  an 
assembly  to  consider  ecclesiastical  matters,^  and  the  granting 
a  commission  in  1638  to  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,   who  was 

1  Rush  worth  IV,  655  58. 

2  Rushworth  I,  399,  and  660-1. 

3  Fuller's  Ephemeris  Parliamentaria. 

4  Rushworth  1 1,  112. 

5  Baillie's  Letters  and  Journals,  I,  424,  note. 

-114- 


sent  as  High  Commissioner  to  Scotland  to  meet  the  general 
Assembly  at  Glasgow.  ^ 

In  February,  1637,  Charles  I  sent  a  letter  to  the  Chief 
Justices  of  the  Bench  enclosing  an  inquiry  as  to  whether  the 
king  had  the  right  to  levy  ship-money  when  in  his  judgment 
the  danger  of  the  Kingdom  demanded  immediate  action. 
Both  the  letter  and  the  inquiry  were  in  English.  The  judges 
replied  in  the  affirmative.  Then  the  king  resorted  to  legal 
writs  for  the  levying  of  the  money,  and  sent  them  to  the 
various  towns  and  counties  of  England.  On  the  fourth  of 
August,  1637,  the  writ  was  directed  to  the  sheriff  of  the 
county  of  Bucks,  containing  an  order  for  the  raising  of  ship- 
money  together  with  an  explanation  of  the  reasons  for  such 
an  order.  By  virtue  of  this  writ  it  was  that  John  Hampden 
was  assessed  twenty  shillings.  Latin  imparted  to  the  action 
an  air  of  ancient  authority  and  legal  justification.'  This  legal 
formality  pursued  Hampden  through  the  celebrated  trial 
which  followed,  and  ended  with  a  Latin  sentence  against 
him.^ 

Though  Charles  I  never  made  any  personal  display  of 
learning,  yet  his  relying  on  "the  known  laws  of  the  land" 
marks  his  reign  with  a  sprinkling  of  Latin  letters  and  docu- 
ments. Further  examples  are  found  in  1640  and  1643,  both 
in  connection  with  important  battles.  In  September,  1640, 
after  his  defeat  at  Newburn  on  the  Tyne  by  the  Scots,  he 
issued  writs  to  require  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal  to 
meet  him  in  a  great  council  at  York.  The  writs  were  in 
formal  and  sonorous  Latin.  The  Salutation,  for  example,  in 
that  addressed  to  the  great  champion  of  form  and  ceremony, 
Archbishop  Laud  of  Canterbury,  were  as  follows :  Rex  Rev- 
erendissimo  in  Christo  Pari  ac  fideli  conciliario  nostro  Wil- 

1  Rushworth  II,  747-8.  The  commission  was  in  Latin,  the  letter  to 
the  Assembly  in  English.  The  legral  form  sought  the  ancient  tongue. 
Compare  the  Latin  letter  and  English  petition  sent  to  parliament  by  the 
Universities,  p.  111-2. 

2  Rushworth  1 1 1,  Appendix,  177-8. 

3  Do.     253. 

—115— 


helmo  Cantuar.  Archiepiscopo,  totius  Angliae  primati  et 
Metropolitano  Salutem.'^  In  the  year  1643  the  valiant  cava- 
lier Sir  Ralph  Horton  rendered  signal  service  at  the  battle 
of  Stratton,  and  later  at  Oxford  was  created  Baron  of  Strat- 
ton  by  his  king.  This  form  of  creation,  like  a  diploma,  was 
in  Latin,  recounting  at  great  length  the  special  service  for 
which  the  honor  was  con f erred.  ^ 

1  Greetings  from  the  king  to  the  most  reverend  father  in  Christ  and 
faithful  councillor  William,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  primate  and 
metropolitan  of  all  England. 

2  Fuller's  Worthies,  I,  332-4. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 
Latin  Prose. 

We  have  seen  in  Chapter  VI  how  Latin  was  used  in  books 
appealing  to  the  learned  of  the  world,  and  not  intended  pri- 
marily for  Englishmen.  A  typical  example  of  this  sort  of 
work  was  Dr.  Harvey's  De  Circulatione  Sanguinis  or 
Hobbes's  De  Give.  But  it  is  not  always  to  be  taken  for 
granted  that  because  a  book  or  treatise  was  in  Latin  it 
therefore  looked  abroad  for  its  readers.  Sometimes  a  writer 
had  before  him  only  or  at  least  chiefly  English  patronage,  yet 
for  reasons  of  dignity,  or  prestige,  or  even  vanity,  chose 
Latin.  It  is  not  always  possible  to  draw  the  line  between  an 
author's  world-wide  outlook  and  a  merely  national  one:  a 
piece  of  literature  in  speaking  to  the  world  thereby  included 
England  in  the  audience;  but  one  cannot  positively  infer  that 
a  Latin  production  always  faced  toward  the  continent. 

Here  arises  the  interesting  question  whether  an  English- 
man, writing  in  Latin  for  an  English  audience,  chose  the 
older  language  because  of  its  intrinsic  superiority  in  the 
matter  of  clearness,  discrimination,  and  force,  or  because  of 
the  external  advantages  of  fashion,  antiquity,  and  authority. 
Was  English  regarded  as  a  merely  vulgar  tongue,  not  yet 
risen,  if  it  ever  would  rise,  to  a  capacity  for  philosophical  con- 
notation and  exactitude?  Prof essor  John  Earle  contends'  that 
Shakspeare  had  proved  to  all  Englishmen  that  everything 
they  might  have  to  say  could  be  amply  and  precisely  uttered 
in  the  native  tongue;  that  all  publications  in  Latin  sought  to 
command  the  wider  European  attention;  and  that  the  motive 
of  English  writers  of  Latin  in  the  seventeenth  and  in  the 
nineteenth  century  was  the  same, — that  Bacon  and  Keble  had 

1  Earle's  English  Prose,  435-6. 

-117— 


equal  regard  for  the  adequacy  of  their  native  language  but 
chose  Latin  for  its  more  universal  appeal  to  scholarship. 

While  generally  speaking  this  contention  holds  good,  yet 
in  some  cases  it  seems  certain  that  the  English  user  of  Latin 
believed  he  was  wielding  a  tool  of  finer  edge,  and  that  his 
precious  thought  attained  perfect  expression  only  in  the 
incomparable  language  of  the  ancients.  Hobbes  confessed 
the  comparative  weakness  of  the  English  vocabulary  by  resort- 
ing not  infrequently  to  Latin  for  the  only  word  which  could 
express  his  meaning.  For  example,  in  Human  Nature,  VII, 
3,  he  says:  "As  we  call  good  and  evil  the  things  that  please 
and  displease;  so  call  we  goodness  and  badness,  the  qualities 
whereby  they  do  it:  and  the  signs  of  that  goodness  are  called 
by  the  Latins  in  one  word  jpulchritiido,  and  the  signs  of  evil 
turpitudo;  to  which  we  find  no  words  precisely  answerable." 
English  had  too  little  training  in  scientific  discourse  to  furnish 
complete  diction  to  the  careful  nominalist.  And  not  only  in 
point  of  vocabulary,  but  also  of  grammatical  structure, 
English  was  wanting.  Bacon  in  De  Augmentis,  Book  VI, 
reasons  on  this  difference.  "Is  not  it  a  fact,"  he  says, 
"worthy  of  observation  (though  it  may  be  a  little  shock  to 
the  spirit  of  us  moderns)  that  the  ancient  languages  were  full 
of  declensions,  cases,  conjugations,  tenses,  and  the  like, 
while  the  modern  are  nearly  stripped  of  them,  and  perform 
most  of  their  work  lazily  by  prepositions  and  verbs  auxiliary? 
Surely  a  man  may  easily  conjecture  (how  well  so  ever  we 
may  think  of  ourselves)  that  the  wits  of  the  early  ages  were 
much  subtler  and  acuter  than  our  own.  There  are  number- 
less observations  of  this  kind,  enough  to  fill  a  volume.  And 
therefore  it  is  not  amiss  to  distinguish  Philosophical  Gram- 
mar from  Grammar  Simple  and  Literary,  and  to  set  it  down 
as  wanting."'  Bacon  here  regards  Latin  excellence  as 
intrinsic,  due  to  its  innermost  and  vital  syntactic  structure, 
and  not  to  any  extraneous  considerations  like  antiquity  or 
fashion  or  academic  prestige.  It  is  not  with  us  a  question  of 
whether  he  and  his  contemporaries  erred  in  this  regard:  the 

1  Spedding  IV,  442. 

—118— 


point  of  interest  is  that  they  really  believed  Latin  a  superior 
instrument  of  expression. 

Speddin^,  the  editor  of  Bacon's  complete  works,  recog- 
nized and  asserted  the  excellence  of  Bacon's  Latin  over  any 
possible  translation,  however  liberal.  This  may  be  the  same 
as  saying  that  translation  is  always  inferior,  and  that  a  Latin 
translation,  by  Spedding  or  other  scholar,  of  Bacon's  English 
works  would  betray  the  same  inadequacy.  But  a  quotation 
from  Spedding,  who  writes  after  long  experience  in  trans- 
lating, and  in  comparing  the  two  languages,  will  indicate  a 
belief  on  his  part  that  there  is  something  essentially  fine  in 
the  Latin  which  Bacon  himself  could  not  have  transferred  to 
his  mother  tongue.  "The  translations,"  says  Spedding,  "are 
intended  especially  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  cannot  read 
Latin.  Those  who  can,  will  find  the  original  not  only  richer, 
stronger,  and  more  impressive,  but  also  (at  least  after  a 
little  practice)  easier  to  follow  and  pleasanter  to  read.  In 
Bacon's  time  Latin  was  still  a  living  language  among  schol- 
ars. They  used  it  not  only  to  show  how  well  they  could 
imitate  the  mariner  in  which  Cicero  or  Tacitus  expressed  his 
thoughts,  but  to  express  their  own;  and  in  Bacon's  hands  it 
became  an  organ  of  expression  extremely  powerful  and  sensi- 
tive, full  of  felicities  and  delicate  effects,  dependent  upon  its 
own  peculiar  resources,  and  not  transferable  in  the  same 
form  into  a  language  of  different  structure.  A  literal  trans- 
lation in  English  might  indeed  explain  them,  and  so  help  an 
imperfect  scholar  to  understand  the  original  if  read  along 
with  it,  but  would  not  at  all  convey  to  an  Englishman  the 
effect  of  the  original  if  read  by  itself."' 

Considering  Bacon's  praise  of  Philosophical  Grammar 
over  Simple  Grammar  in  the  light  of  this  testimony  from  a 
diligent  translator  of  his  works,  one  will  discern  another 
motive  on  the  part  of  English  users  of  Latin  besides  the 
obvious  one  of  reaching  a  larger  audience  of  scholars. 

Even  the  most  zealous  defenders  of  English  did  not  go 
so  far  as  to  contend  for  its  equality  with  Latin  or  the  other 

1  Spedding,  preface  to  Vol.  IV. 

—119- 


languages  which  had  been  tested  by  the  ages.  In  1644  was 
pubHshed  a  short  pamphlet  entitled  "Vindex  Anglicus:  or, 
The  Perfections  of  the  English  Language  defended  and 
asserted."  The  author  compares  his  native  tongue  with 
others  ancient  and  modern,  and  though  he  finds  it  equal 
or  superior  to  Spanish,  French,  and  Italian,  he  humbly  con- 
cedes its  inferiority  to  the  ancient  languages.  ''Let  no  one 
think,"  he  says,  "that  I  stand  in  any  competition  to  the 
sacred  Hebrew,  learned  Greeks,  or  fluent  Latins,  or  claim  a 
superiority  over  the  rest;  my  ambition  extends  not  so  high, 
though  you  see  I  want  not  pretence  for  it.  Let  us  look  upon 
ours  as  a  language,  equal  to  the  best  of  the  vulgar;  and,  for 
my  part, 

'Let  others  retain  their  ancient  dignity  and  esteem.'  '' 

Again  he  says:  "Though  in  this  conclusion  I  here  strike  sail, 
and  vail  to  the  learned  languages;  let  that  not  detract  from 
the  worth  of  ours,  which  is  parallel,  if  not  superior  to  the 
best  remaining.  "1 

There  is  an  additional  argument  against  Earle's  position 
that  Latin  was  chosen  for  the  same  jreasons  by  seventeenth 
and  nineteenth  century  EngHshmen.  In  Milton's  time  there 
was  no  acknowledged  standard  of  English  prose.  This  came 
later,  after  the  Restoration  and  during  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, when  the  genius  of  the  language  was  allowed  to  assert 
and  develop  itself.  But  before  the  Restoration  its  syntax 
was  not  fixed,  its  sentence  structure  lacked  power  and  effect- 
iveness, its  vocabulary  lacked  wealth  and  refinement.  How- 
ever much  the  great  prose  writers  contemporary  with  Milton 
were  misguided  in  the  worship  of  the  classics,  they  certainly 
believed  and  felt  their  native  prose  to  be  still  an  inadequate 
and  imperfect  instrument,  not  yet  far  removed  from  vul- 
garity and  barbarism.  How  were  these  writers  and  scholars 
to  give  full  and  satisfactory  expression  to  their  thoughts? 
Was  there  no  means  at  hand  for  worthy  literary  utterance? 
They  answered  the  question  by  their  actions.  They  could 
either  use  Latin,  the  language  whose  capacity  and  power  no 

1  Harleian  Miscellany,  1 1,  37-42. 

-120- 


man  ever  questioned,  or  they  could  take  up  the  ill-formed 
English,  and  mould  it  into  Latinized  forms:  make  its  syntax, 
sentence-structure,  its  roll  and  volume,  and  in  some  measure 
its  vocabulary  like  the  long  approved  and  honored  Latin. 
Hence  we  have  the  prose  of  Milton,  often  impossible  to  parse, 
often  scarcely  intelligible;  likewise  the  prose  of  Thomas 
Hooker,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Thomas  Browne,  and  Lord  Claren- 
don. If  these  men  believed  English  the  equal  of  Latin  in 
controversy,  philosophy,  history,  and  all  other  serious  utter- 
ance, why  did  they  commit  the  absurdity  of  straining  after 
the  style  of  Cicero,  and  distorting  their  native  tongue  out  of 
its  approved  adequacy  and  perfection  into  the  monstrosities 
of  an  alien  idiom?  It  was  a  sincere  effort,  no  doubt,  "to  adorn 
the  native  tongue,"  as  Milton  confessed;  to  make  English 
what  Latin  had  been  of  old,  by  adopting  the  supreme  merits 
of  the  ancient  tongue.  The  mistake  was  in  not  recognizing 
the  different  genius  and  character  of  the  tw^o  languages,  and 
in  not  fostering,  surely  and  steadily,  the  native,  inherent 
qualities  of  homely  English.  This  mistake  was  committed  by 
scholars  not  only  in  prose  but  also  in  attempting  to  stretch 
English  verse  to  the  measure  of  the  classical  forms. 

Mention  will  be  made  of  a  few  works  which  appear  to 
have  been  addressed  chiefly  or  only  to  Englishmen.  In  1616^ 
Francis  Godwin,  later  Bishop  of  Hereford,  published  in 
London:  Rerum  Anglicarum  Henrico  VIII  Edwardo  & 
Maria  regnantihus,  AnnalesY  In  the  same  year  he  pub- 
lished De  Praesulibus  Angliae  Cominentarii,^  which  had 
been  previously  written  and  issued  in  English  under  the 
following  title:  "A  Catalogue  of  the  Bishops  of  England, 
since  the  first  Planting  of  the  Christian  Religion  in  this 
Island,  together  with  a  brief  History  of  their  Lives  and  mem- 
orable Actions,  so  near  as  they  can  be  gathered  out  of 
Antiquity. '  *    One  might  suppose  that  the  usual  motives  urged 


1  History  of  England  during  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  Edward  V  I, 
and  Mary. 

3  Commentaries  on  the  Bishops  of  England.     Wood,  Fasti,    Part  1 1, 
555,  ff. 


—121— 


the  a'lthor  to  turn  his  pretentious  work  into  Latin,  but  Wood 
recordo  a  pecuHar  reason,  if  we  are  to  take  it  seriously.  The 
history  "being  very  full  of  faults,  and  not  to  be  endured  by 
any  ordinary  reader,  he  hath  put  forthwith  into  Latin."  If 
the  book  could  boast  of  no  other  merit,  it  should  at  least  be 
"learned." 

In  1633  Sir  Henry  Wotton  published  in  London  Plaiisiis 
&  Vota  ad  Regent  e  Scotia  Reducem,^  a  greeting  to 
King  Charles  on  his  return  for  his  coronation  in  Holyrood 
Abbey.  Wotton  was  author  also  of  Henrici  VUi  Angliae  et 
Galliarum  Regis,  Hiberniae  Domini,  Etonensis  ad  Tamesin 
Collegii  Conditoris,  Vita  et  Excessus.  Scriptore  Henrico 
Anglo-Cantiano  Ejusdem  Collegii  Praefecto.'-  In  these 
two  pieces  of  Latin  prose  Sir  Henry  could  expect  only  or 
chiefly  English  readers.  His  themes  had  to  do  with  royalty: 
in  addressing  a  king,  or  in  writing  the  life  of  a  king  who  was 
at  the  same  time  the  founder  of  a  college,  no  language  could 
be  too  learned  and  dignified. 

On  occasions  of  great  formality  Latin  was  sometimes 
chosen  for  public  address  even  outside  the  Universities.  Such 
an  occasion  of  learning  and  dignity  was  the  Convocation  of 
Divines,  which  met  at  the  same  time  with  Parliament  in  1640. 
"On  the  first  day  thereof",  says  Thomas  Fuller,  "Dr.  Turner, 
chaplain  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  made  a  Latin  ser- 
mon in  the  quire  of  St.  Paul's.  His  text,  Matth.  X,  16, 
Behold  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves.  .  .  . 
Next  day  of  sitting  we  met  at  Westminster,  in  the  chapel  of 
King  Henry  the  Seventh,  both  the  houses  of  convocation 
being  joined  together,  when  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury 
entertained  them  with  a  Latin  speech,  well  nigh  three-quarters 
of  an  hour  gravely  uttered,  his  eyes  ofttimes  being  but  one 
remove  from  weeping." 

1  A  Panegyric  to  the  King  on  his  return  from  Scotland.  Smith's  Life 
of  Wotton,  II,  Append.  I.,  B. 

-  Life  and  death  of  Henry  V  I,  K'\n^  of  En{?land  and  France,  Lord  of 
Ireland,  Founder  of  Eton  College  on  the  Thames.  By  Henry,  an  English- 
man of  Kent,  Provost  of  the  same  College.  Smith's  Life  of  Wotton,  1 1, 
Appendix  I,  B. 

—122- 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Latin  Poetry. 

In  discussing  the  several  international  uses  of  Latin,  we 
did  not  find  a  place  for  poetry,  because  there  seemed  to  be  no 
poetry  in  England  whose  primary  purpose  was  to  address 
foreign  readers.  It  is  hard  to  think  of  a  poet's  making 
verses  for  outlandish  admirers  only;  his  first  readers  must 
always  be  among  his  countrymen,  even  though  his  name  may 
in  course  of  time  outrun  the  boundaries  of  a  single  nation. 
Yet  one  grows  to  feel,  the  more  he  looks  into  the  Latin  liter- 
ature of  this  time,  that  the  English  writers  of  Latin  prose  or 
verse,  even  when  their  themes  were  insular,  had  the  habit  of 
eying  the  continent  and  secretly  hoping  that  their  names, 
like  Horace's,  would  be  syllabled  far  from  Rome: 

qua  violens  obstrepit  Aufidus 

et  qua  pauper  aquae  Daunus  agrestium 

regnavit  populorum  ex  humili  potens. ' 

We  shall  assume  that  all  Latin  poetry  written  by  English- 
men at  home  was  intended  first  for  readers  among  their 
scholarly  countrymen,  however  much  an  ambition  may  have 
been  cherished  toward  the  larger  circle  of  the  whole  learned 
world.  We  have  accordingly  placed  all  Latin  poetry  in  two 
classes:  first,  academic  poetry,  treated  above  in  Chapter  III; 
second,  non-academic  poetry,  produced  in  England  and  for 
English  readers.  These  two  classes  cannot  always  be  kept 
accurately  apart.     Our  general  guide  is  the  question  whether 


1  Where  brawls  loud  Aufidus,  and  came 
Parched  Daunus  erst  a  horde 
Of  rustic  boors  to  sway,  my  name 
Shall  be  a  household  word. 
Hor.  Ill,  30- Martin's  Trans. 

—123— 


the  purpose  and  occasion,  the  author  and  the  place  of  com- 
position, were  intimately  connected  with  the  Universities  or 
not.  If  the  poem  was  written  and  published  on  the  grounds 
by  a  University  man,  on  an  academic  theme,  it  has  been 
called  academic  Latin;  if  it  was  published  outside,  or  by  its 
subject-matter  made  an  appeal  to  outside  readers,  or  was 
addressed  to  an  outsider,  even  though  by  a  University  man, 
it  has  been  reserved  for  consideration  in  this  chapter. 

Latin  versifying,  begun  early  in  academic  innocence,  and 
continued  by  habit  into  maturer  years  and  often  into  old  age, 
was  all  but  universal  among  men  who  boasted  scholarship, 
or  coveted  a  reputation  for  wit  and  literary  talent.  It  was  a 
poor  scholar  who  had  put  forth  into  the  world  no  Latin  hex- 
ameters or  elegiacs,  who  could  not  turn  an  epigram,  or  pass 
a  compliment  in  Latin  verse.  Wood's  remark  about  Robert 
Burhill,  who  died  in  1641,  that  he  was  "in  his  younger  days 
a  noted  Latin  poet",  illustrates  the  fashion  of  the  time  in 
building  transient  fame  out  of  hard-wrought  Latin  verse. 
Such  expressions  in  biographical  notices  as  "an  admirable 
linguist",  "an  excellent  master  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
tongues,"  etc.,  are  commonly  followed  by  reference  to  epi- 
grams and  poems  in  Latin  or  Greek.  The  reward  for  all  such 
achievement  was,  according  to  the  biographer,  to  lie  at  last 
beneath  an  unabridged  Latin  epitaph. 

The  aspiring  youth,  whose  aim  was  preferment  in  church 
or  state,  knew  no  better  way  to  advertise  his  merit  than  to 
hail  the  archbishop  or  king  in  a  Latin  poem,  or  better  still,  in 
a  whole  volume  of  poems  In  1628  Alexander  Gill,  Milton's 
old  tutor  at  St.  Paul's,  fell  under  the  merciless  censure  of  the 
Star  Chamber  for  having  entertained  and  uttered'  doubts  as 
to  the  absolute  wisdom  of  the  king.  He  had  declared  among 
a  group  of  boon  companions  in  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  that 
"our  king  was  fitter  to  stand  in  a  Cheapside  shop  with  an 
apron  before  him  and  say.  'what  lack  ye?',  than  to  rule  a 
kingdom."  He  had  further  assured  his  fellows  that  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  recently  assassinated  by  Felton,  "had 
gone  down  to  hell  to  meet  James  there."  and  that  he  was 
sorry  "Felton  had  deprived  him  of  the  honor  of  doing  that 

—124- 


brave  deed."  Gill's  heroic  spirit  was  soon  put  to  exercise  by 
the  censure  of  the  Star  Chamber,  degrading?  him  from  his  min- 
istry, removing  his  University  degrees,  fining  him  20001., 
and  condemning  him  to  lose  one  ear  at  London  and  the  other 
at  Oxford.  Later,  on  the  petition  of  his  honored  old  father, 
the  corporal  punishment  was  remitted  and  the  fine  mitigated. 
Young  Gill  was  properly  grateful  and  changed  his  mind  about 
*  'our  king. ' '  In  1632  he  published  Poetici  Conatus, '  with  a  ded- 
ication Serenissimo  Domino  nostro  Carolo,  Regi  optimo, 
Principum  exemplo,  maxima  liter  arum  ac  artium  fautori.'^ 
Nor  did  the  volume  neglect  the  archbishop:  it  contained  a 
Latin  poem  addressed  most  submissively  to  the  great  Laud  of 
Canterbury.  Gill  was  doing  his  best  to  recover  his  lost  ground, 
and  he  knew  the  fashionable  and  effective  way  of  flattery. 

Andrew  Marvell,  ambitious  to  rise  in  the  world,  after 
traveling  abroad  and  tutoring  in  Lord  Fairfax's  house, 
came  to  London  in  1652.  About  this  time  Milton,  as 
Foreign  Secretary,  wrote  a  letter  to  Bradshaw  in  recom- 
mendation of  the  young  man,  calling  him  "a  scholar, 
and  well  read  in  the  Latin  and  Greek  authors."  Mar- 
vell had  proved  his  scholarship  and  his  worthiness  to 
be  recommended  to  the  great,  by  his  aspiring  Latin 
poems.^  Another  was  a  rather  long  string  of  elegiacs  entitled: 
Doctori  IngelOy  cum  Domino  Whitlocke,  ad  Reginarn  Sueciae 
Delegato  a  Protectore,  Residenti,  Epistola^  He  wrote  also 
In  Effigiem  Oliveri  CromivelW  and  In  Eandem,^  Reginae 
Sueciae  Transmissam.  It  is  noticeable  that  Marvell  ventured 
no  direct  address  to  Cromwell  but  to  men  very  near  him, 

1  Poetical  Essays. 

2  To   our   most   serene  Lord.  Charles,  best   of   Kings,    paragon   of 
princes,  greatest  patron  of  arts  and  letters.     Masson  I,  153. 

3  Masson  IV.  478-9. 

4  To  Dr.  Ingelus,  resident  with  Lord  Whitlocke  Envoy  from  the  Pro- 
tector to  the  Queen  of  Sweden.     Masson  IV,  623-4. 

5  On  the  Portrait  of  Oliver  Cromwell.     Do.  624. 

6  On  the  same,  sent  to  the  Queen  of  Sweden.     Do. 

—125— 


and  care  was  taken  to  mention  the  protector's  name.  The 
persistent  young  poet  was  finally  rewarded  for  all  his  pains 
and  learning  by  being  appointed  assistant  to  the  Latin  Sec- 
retary John  Milton. 

Latin  poetry  was  written  not  only  to  gain  recommenda- 
tion for  preferment,  but  to  indulge  in  the  pleasure  of  com- 
posing, or  to  join  the  association  of  wits  and  scholars,  or  to 
win  the  reputation  of  having  done  a  clever  piece  of  work. 
In  1637,  when  the  brilliant  Bishop  Williams  was  fined  20,0001. 
and  committed  to  the  Tower  during  the  King's  pleasure,  one 
of  his  amusements  which  prison  walls  could  not  bar  out  was 
the  writing  of  Latin  verses. '  In  1638,  when  the  memory  of 
Ben  Jonson  was  to  "be  revived  by  the  friends  of  the  muses," 
the  wits  joined  together  in  publishing  Jonsoims  Virbius, 
and  filled  the  evergreen  volume  with  poems,  English,  Latin, 
and  Greek.-  An  example  of  clever  work,  of  exhibiting  a  sort 
of  linguistic  legerdemain,  is  a  book  by  Henry  Stubbe  called 
Horae  Subsecivae,  "consisting  of  translations  of  Jonah  and 
other  parts  of  the  old  Testament,  and  of  Latin  Epigrams  by 
Randolph  and  others,  into  Greek.  "^  Stubbe  was  guilty  of 
more  than  one  volume  of  Latin  and  Greek  verse,  not  knowing 
at  the  time  but  that  immortal  fame  grew  on  such  soil. 

Examples  in  chronological  order  of  noteworthy  Latin 
poems  may  now  be  considered.  In  1619  the  epigrams  of  John 
Owen,  who  had  produced  them  almost  beyond  number,  were 
sifted,  and  a  choice  selection  was  translated  into  English  by 
John  Vicars,  usher  of  Christ  Hospital,  in  London;  and  again 
in  1659  six  hundred  of  them  were  translated  by  Thomas 
Pecke.*  It  would  seem  that  Latin  poetry  written  by  an 
Englishman  was  not  felt  to  have  been  intended  for  English 
readers,  if  later  a  translation  into  English  was  considered 
worth  while  in  order  apparently  to  bring  the  pieces  back 
home  to  the  author's  countrymen.  But  it  was  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  such  translations  were  made  because  the  message 

1  Masson  I,  540. 
3  Masson  I,  510. 

3  Masson  VI,  317-18. 

4  Wood,  Fasti,  Parti  I,  322. 

—126- 


of  the  poems  had  any  great  value,  or  could  not  otherwise 
than  by  translation  j?et  to  its  destined  readers.  The  linguistic 
and  literary  gymnastics  which  the  exercise  afforded  was  all 
the  translators  cared  for:  the  display  of  their  skill  in  piecing 
together  syllables  into  a  certain  order  honorably  known  as 
rhythm  or  metre,  and  words  into  certain  interesting  combin- 
tions  called  syntax.  The  usher  of  Christ  Hospital  would 
probably  have  been  happier  if  John  Owen's  epigrams  had 
originally  been  in  English,  in  order  that  his  translation  of 
them  might  bring  him  out  on  the  more  glorious  side  of  Latin; 
and  he  probably  had  no  more  faith  in  conveying  a  messege  to 
Englishmen  then  Henry  Stubbe  had  when  he  translated 
Jonah  into  Greek.  Both  must  have  worked  to  the  same  end: 
to  exhibit  their  skill  in  verbal  manipulation,  their  close  famil- 
iarity with  languages. 

This  heavy  literary  fashion  was  the  child  of  scholasticism 
and  the  narrow  humanism  of  the  schools.  William  Slatyer 
was  a  notable  victim  of  the  same  tyranny.  In  1621  he  pub- 
lished in  London  "Palae- Albion:  or  the  History  of  Great 
Britain  from  the  first  peopling  of  the  Island  to  the  Reign  of 
King  James,"  a  folio  in  Latin  and  English  verse,  the  Latin 
on  one  side,  the  English  on  the  other.  In  1630  he  published 
"Genethliacum  sive  Stemma  Regis  Jacobi,''''-  a  folio  in  Latin 
and  English,  with  the  genealogy  derived  all  the  way  from 
Adam. 

There  was  more  excuse  for  the  production  of  certain 
poems  by  Alexander  Gill,  who  has  been  mentioned  above 
in  connection  with  the  Star  Chamber.  In  1623,  at  the 
fatal  vespers  in  Blackfriars,  over  one  hundred  Catholics 
were  killed  in  the  fall  of  the  house;  whereupon  young 
Gill  wrote  a  Latin  ode  In  ruinam  Camerae  Papisticae 
Londini.'  In  1625  he  put  forth  two  poems  of  fellow- 
ship and  piety:  one  w^as  addressed  to  Thomas  Farnaby, 
the  great  schoolmaster,  and  was  sent  along  with  a  skin  of 
canary  in  a  true  Horatian  spirit;  the  other  was  a  greeting  to 

1  Wood's  Athenae,  III,  227.     "Birthday  poem,  or  Pedigree  of  King 
James." 

2  On  the  fall  of  the  Papal  House  in  London.     Masson  I,  72-3. 

—127— 


his  father  on  his  sixtieth  birthday.  Gill  was  also  author  of 
'Er.vAv.uiv  de  Gestis,  Successibus,  et  Victoriis  Regis  Sueciae  in 
Germania,^  in  1631,  which  was  later  "Englished  and  explained 
in  marginal  notes  by  W.  H.  under  the  title  of  'A  Song  of  Vic- 
tory'. "  Gill  must  have  felt  himself  all  the  more  a  seven- 
teenth century  Horace,  to  have  his  Latin  poems  translated 
and  elucidated  with  scholarly  annotation. 

William  Vaughn,  the  son  of  Walt.  Vaughn  of  the  Golden 
Grove  in  Caermarthenshire,  "though  indifferently  learned, 
yet  went  beyond  most  men  of  his  time  for  Latin,  especially, 
and  English  poetry."  Among  his  poems  was  one  published 
in  London  in  1625  and  dedicated  to  Charles  I,  the  author 
modestly  assuming  the  name  of  Orpheus  Junior.  The  com- 
plete title  was:  Cambrensium  Caroleia.  Quihus  Nuptiae 
regales  celebrantur,  Memoria  Regis  Pacifici  renovatur  & 
Praecepta  necessaria  ad  Rempub.  nostram  foeliciter  admini- 
strandam  intexunhir:  reportata  e  Colchide  Cambriola  ex  A21- 
stralissima  novae  terrae  Plaga.^  Charles's  family  events,  it 
seems,  were  not  to  be  the  exclusive  property  of  the  Cam- 
bridge and  Oxford  muses. 

Raphael  Thorius  was  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  but  sojourned 
among  the  Oxonians,  practiced  medicine  in  London,  and 
wrote  Latin  poetry.  His  Hymnus  Tabaci,  sive  de  Paeto  Libri 
diio^  wsis  "an  elegant  Latin  poem  translated  into  English 
by  Peter  Hausted,  M.  A.  of  Cambridge,"  in  1631.  His 
Chrimonopegnion,  A  Winter  Song,  was  also  translated  into 
English  by  the  faithful  Hausted.  Thorius  died  in  1625  of 
the  plague  and  was  commemorated  by  a  friend  in  the  poem: 
Lessus  in  Funere  Raphaelis  Thori  Medici  et  Poetae  Prae- 
stantissimi,  Qui  Londini  Peste  extincttis  bonis  et  doctis  omni- 


1  Ode  on  the  Deeds  and  Victories  of  the  King  of  Sweden  in  Germany. 
Wood's  Athenae  1 1 1,  43. 

2  Welsh  Tributes  to  Charles.  Whereby  the  royal  nuptials  are  cele- 
brated, the  memory  of  the  Pacific  King  is  revived,  and  needful  counsel 
intertwined  for  happily  conducting  the  affairs  of  state:  brought  from 
Cambriol  Colchis,  out  of  the  southermost  part  of  the  island  called  New- 
foundland.   Wood,  Fasti,  Part  1 1,  445. 

3  Hymn  to  Tobacco.     Wood,  Fasti,  Part  II,  379-80. 

—128- 


bus  triste  s^ti  Desiderium  reliquit.  Anno  1625^  When  one 
reads  such  superlatives  as  Praestantissimi  bestowed  upon  a 
now  unknown  writer,  one  hardly  knows  whether  to  account 
it  a  mere  sonorous  convention,  or  to  imagine  another  and  upper 
world  in  which  Latin  was  the  language  and  in  which  a  poet 
might  have  actually  become  very  famous  without  ever  being 
heard  of  among  the  vulgar-tongued  multitude  below. 

Chief  among  the  scholars  who  about  1632  were  exercising 
their  ingenuity  in  Latin  epigrams,  elegies  and  the  like,  were 
James  Duport  and  Thomas  May.  Duport,  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  had  his  eye  on  subjects  outside  of  College,  and 
wrote  an  ode  in  Benjaminium  Jonsonum,  Poetam  Laurea- 
tum,  et  dramaticoriim  sui  secidi  facile  principem.'^  Years 
later  he  addressed  two  Latin  poems  to  his  master  Isaac  Wal- 
ton, which  were  published  in  the  second  edition  of  the  Com- 
plete Angler,  in  1655. '^  May,  according  to  Masson  a  Latinist 
of  far  higher  power  than  Duport,  *  published  in  1640  his  Sup- 
plementum  Lucani  Lib.  V I,^  which  brought  the  narrative  of 
the  Roman  poet  down  to  the  death  of  Caesar.  It  was  writ- 
ten, says  Wood,  "in  so  lofty  and  happy  Latin  hexameter, 
that  he  hath  attained  to  much  more  reputation  abroad,  than 
he  hath  lost  at  home."  May  not  only  enlarged  Latin  litera- 
ture by  supplementing  Lucan,  but  paid  equal  tribute  to  his 
mother  tongue  by  rendering  into  English  Lucan 's  Pharsalia 
and  Virgil's  Georgics.  He  stood  with  the  one  language  on 
one  hand,  and  the  other  on  the  other,  and  it  could  not  be  said 
of  him  that  he  let  not  his  right  hand  know  what  his  left  hand 
did.  For  his  much  pains  he  was  rewarded  at  last  with  a 
plentiful  epitaph  by  Marchamont  Needham. 

1  Lamentation  on  the  death  of  Ralph  Thorius.  physician  and  most 
excellent  poet,  who  died  in  London  of  the  plague  and  left  sorrowful 
regret  among  all  good  and  learned  men,  in  the  year  1625.  Wood,  Fasti, 
Part  n,  379-80.  and  footnote. 

2  On  Ben  Johnson,  poet  laureate  and  easily  the  first  dramatic  writer 
of  his  age.     Masson  I,  400. 

3  Marston's  Walton,  240-L 
*  Masson  I,  400. 

5  Supplement  to  Lucan,  Six  Books.     Wood,  Athenae  III,  810. 

-129— 


Francis  Kinaston,  "first  regent  of  the  college  or  academy 
called  Musaeum  Minervae",  and  author  of  "The  Constitu- 
tions of  Musaeum  Minervae",  laid  hands  on  old  Chaucer  with 
more  piety  than  Dryden  did  later,  and  translated  his  Troilus 
and  Cresseid  into  the  venerable  Latin,  entitling  the  work 
Amorum  Troili  &  Creseidae  Lihri  Duo  Priores  Anglico-La- 
tini,^  published  at  Oxford  in  1635;  "which",  says  Wood, 
"being  beheld  as  an  excellent  translation,  was  ushered  into 
the  world  by  15  copies  of  verses  made  by  Oxford  men." 
About  the  same  time  Richard  James  published  at  Oxford 
Poemata  quaedam  in  Mort.  Clariss.  Viri  Roberti  Cottoni  & 
Thomas  Alleni."'  He  was  author  also  of  sermons  in  Latin 
and  in  English,  and  at  his  death  in  1638  left  behind  a  num- 
ber of  Latin  manuscripts.  Nothing  was  wanting  to  him  and 
his  studies,  says  Wood,  "but  a  sinecure  or  a  prebendship; 
either  of  which,  if  conferred  upon  him,  Hercules  his  labours 
would  have  seemed  a  trifle." 

In  1637  there  was  published  in  Amsterdam,  at  the  expense 
of  a  patriotic  Scot,  Delitiae  Poetarum  Scotorum,'^  a  work  which 
challenged  the  criticism  of  the  world  at  that  time,  and  excites 
our  wonder  to-day.  It  was  a  collection,  in  two  small  but 
densely  packed  volumes,  of  choice  Latin  poems,  by  thirty- 
seven  Scottish  authors  who  were  styled  the  "glory  of  this 
age."  These  thirty-seven  were  only  a  handful  to  the  infinite 
host  that  had  remained  athome— the innumerabiles  poetarum 
veluti  exercitits*  representing  extremum  hunc  angidum  pa£ne 
sub  ipso  mundi  cardine  jacentem.^  Among  the  best  were 
John  Scot,  at  whose  expense  the  volume  was  published,  and 
Arthur  Johnston,  the  editor.  Besides  being  a  Latin  poet, 
Johnston  had  a  distinguished  career  as  a  Doctor  of  Medicine 
of  the  University  of  Padua,  Professor  in  the  Universities  of 


1  The  Loves  of  Troilus  and  Cressida:    first  two  books,    English   and 
Latin.     Wood's  Athenae  III,  38-9. 

2  Poems  on  the  death  of  those  very  famous  men,  Robert  Cotton  and 
Thomas  Allen.     Wood's  Athenae,  1 1 1,  38. 

3  Delights  of  the  Scottish  Poets. 
*    Countless  armies  of  poets. 

5  This  uttermost  point  of  land  lying  almost  under  the  pole. 

-130- 


Heidelberg:  andSedon,  Rector  of  the  University  and  of  Kin^^'s 
College,  Aberdeen,  and  physician  to  James  I  and  Charles  I. 
He  had  his  residence  in  London,  as  Medicus  Rexjhis^  His  first 
publication  with  his  name  was  on  the  death  of  James: 
Elegia  in  obitiim  Jacobi  I,  London,  1625.  There  fol- 
lowed in  great  profusion  elegies,  epigrams,  paraphrases, 
parerga.  He  wrote,  strangely  enough,  being  a  Scot, 
Musae  Querulae,  de  Regis  in  Scotiam  Profectone,'^  irt 
1633,  which  was  published  in  ten  pages  with  Latin  oh 
the  left  hand  pages  and  English  on  the  right.  His  most  cel- 
ebrated work  was  a  Latin  version  of  the  Psalms:  Artiwi  Jon- 
stoni  Psalmi  Davidici  inter pretatione,  argumentis,  notisque 
illitstrati:  in  iisum  Serenissimi  Principis^  The  bibliography 
of  Arthur  Johnston,  as  collected  and  published  by  William 
Johnston  in  1896,^  show  as  many  as  thirty- four  extant  editions 
of  his  works,  all  but  one  being  in  Latin.  And  Johnston  was 
only  one  among  the  innumerabiles  poetariim  exercitus. 

Thomas  Hobbes,  though  in  all  his  philosophical  works  he 
wrote  with  bitter  sarcasm  against  the  teachings  of  the  Univer- 
sities, and  in  his  Leviathan  declared  his  belief  "that  there 
was  never  anything  so  dearly  bought  as  these  Western  parts 
have  bought  the  learning  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues,"-^ 
yet  himself  was  a  Latin  author  of  prose  and  verse,  from 
youth  down  to  the  last  years  of  a  remarkably  long  life.  He 
composed  prior  to  1628  but  published  in  1636  De  Mirabilibus 
Pecci,  containing  over  500  Latin  hexameters  which  "give  a 
lively  account  of  an  excursion  from  Chatsworth  round  the 
Seven  Wonders  of  the  Derbyshire  Peak."  At  the  age  of 
sixty-four  he  wrote  his  own  life  in  Latin  elegiacs,  which 
were  not  published  till  1679,  a  year  after  his  death. 

1  Physician  to  the  King. 

2  Complaints  of  the  muse  on  the  departure  of  the  King  for  Scotland; 

3  Arthur  Johnston's  Psalms  of  David,  illustrated    with    translation, 
arguments,  and  notes:  for  the  use  of  the  most  serene  Prince. 

4  Bibliography  and  Portraits  of  Arthur  Johnston,  by  William   John- 
ston, Aberdeen  University  Press,  1896. 

5  Leviathan,  Ch.  XX  I,  p.  144. 

-131— 


John  Dryden  was  not  the  only  poet  in  England  who 
resetted  the  death  of  Cromwell  the  Protector  and  later 
rejoiced  at  the  restoration  of  Charles  the  King.  In  1653 
Robert  Whitehall  wrote  Carmen  gratulatorium  Olivero  Crom- 
well in  Protectorem  Angliae  inaiigu7'ato;^  and  in  1657,  Carmen 
Onomasticon  Gratulatorium  Ricardo  Cromwell  in  Cancellarii 
Officium  &  Dignitatem  foeliciter  Elector  These  friendly  verses 
to  Oliver  and  Richard  Cromwell  served  as  exercises  to  train 
.Whitehall  for  congratulating  Oxford  on  the  return  of  Charles 
1 1,  and  for  saluting  Edward  Hyde  as  High  Chancellor  of 
England  and  as  much-desired  Chancellor  of  Oxford.  The 
poem  containing  this  change  of  sentiment,  addressed  Edvardo 
Hyde,  summo  Angliae  &  optato  Oxoniae  Cancellario,^  was 
printed  on  one  side  of  a  sheet  in  both  Latin  and  English,  and 
given  to  the  world  promptly  in  the  year  1660. 

Payne  Fisher,  who  translated  his  name  into  Paganus  Pis- 
cator,  celebrated  the  great  deeds  in  war  and  at  last  the  death 
of  Cromwell;  publishing  in  1659  Marston  Moore:  sen  de  Obsi- 
dione  Proelioque  Eboracensi  Carmen,  Lib.  6;^  and  in  1658  a 
dirge  entitled:  Threnodia  Triumphalis,  in  Obitiim  seretisis)^. 
nostri  Prinx^ipis  Olivari  Angliae,  Scotiae,  &c. ,  nuper  Pro- 
tectorisJ' 

Milton,  like  the  Robert  Burhill  mentioned  above,  was  "in 
his  younger  days  a  noted  Latin  poet.''  In  1645,  Humphrey 
Moses,  who  did  all  he  could  to  promote  fine  literature  by  its 
publication  and  sale  at  his  shop  in  St.  Paul's  church-yard, 
published  Milton's  poems,  both  Latin  and  English.  These 
poems  were  all  minor  at  that  time,  in  the  sense  we  now  use 

1  Gratulatory  poem  to  Oliver  Cromwell  on  his  inauguration  as   Pro- 
tector of  England. 

2  Gratulatory  poem  to  Richard  Cromwell  happily  elected  to  the  office 
and  dignity  of  Chancellor. 

3  To  Edward  Hyde,  High  Chancellor  of  England  and  desired  Chancel- 
lor of  Oxford.     Wood  IV,  177. 

4  Marston  Moor:  or  Song  on  the  Seigeand  Battle  of  York;  si.x  books. 

•■>  Triumphal  Dirge  on  the  death  of   our  most  serene  Prince  Oliver, 
late  Protector  of  England,  Scotland,  &c.     Wood  IV,  378-9. 

-132— 


the  word.  The  volume  was  divided  into  two  parts,  each 
part  separately  titled  and  pap:ed.  The  first  contained  the 
English  poems  which  filled  120  pages.  The  second  part, 
of  88  pages,  contained  the  Latin  pieces,  with  the  following 
on  the  title  page:  Joannis  Miltoni  Londiniensis  Poemata: 
quorum  pier  ague  intra  annum  aetatis  vigesimum  conscripsit: 
nunc  primum  edifa^  A  preface  to  this  second  part  was  writ- 
ten by  the  poet  himself.  In  1G73,  a  new  edition  of  Milton's 
minor  poems  was  issued,  being  however  merely  a  reprint  of 
the  1645  edition,  with  the  addition  of  two  Latin  poems: 
Apologus  de  Rustico  et  Hero-  and  Ad  Joannem  Rousium.-^ 
Both  the  1645  and  the  1673  editions  had  prefixed  to  the  Latin 
part  five  pieces,  three  in  Latin  elegiacs,  one  in  Italian  verse, 
one  in  Latin  prose,  addressed  to  Milton  by  the  Italian  wits  he 
had  met  during  his  residence  in  Italy  in  1638  and  1639. 

The  volume  published  in  1645  contained  in  the  Latin 
division:  (1)  the  book  of  elegies— Elegiarum  Liber — consist- 
ing of  seven  elegies  averaging  about  one  hundred  lines  each, 
and  of  eight  short  pieces  in  elegiac  meter;  (2)  the  Silvae, 
consisting  of  six  Latin  poems  written  during  Milton's  Cam- 
bridge days,  two  short  pieces  in  Greek  verse,  two  Latin  poems 
addressed  to  Italian  acquaintances  Salsillus  and  Mansus.  and 
finally  Epitaphimn  Damonis.  The  whole  volume  contained 
about  eighteen  hundred  lines  of  Latin  and  twenty-seven  lines 
of  Greek,  not  counting  four  Greek  lines  printed  under  the 
poet's  portrait  in  the  book  and  addressed  by  him  to  the 
wretched  engraver. 

The  seven  elegies  were  written  during  Milton's  Univer- 
sity career,  between  the  years  seventeen  and  twenty.  Three 
— the  first,  fourth,  and  sixth— were  sent  as  letters  or  in  let- 
ters to  friends  at  a  distance.  The  Elegi a  Prima,  written  in 
the  spring  of  1626,  while  the  poet  was  at  home  in  exile  from 
college,  was  addressed  to  his  best  friend,  Charles  Diodati :  it 

1  Poems  of  John  Milton   of   London:   most  of   which  were  written 
before  the  completion  of  his  twentieth  year;  now  first  edited. 

2  Apologue  of  the  countryman  and  his  master. 

3  To  John  Rous. 

-133- 


is  an  eloquent  rhetorical  exercise,  full  of  ancient  mythology, 
and  various  fanciful  and  learned  allusions.  It  declared, 
among  other  things,  that  gloria  virginibus  dehetur  prima 
Britannis:^  the  world  has  nothing  to  show  as  fair  as  the  girls 
of  England;  one  of  whom,  a  few  years  later,  he  was  so 
pleasantly  to  encounter. 

The  second  elegy,  on  the  death  of  the  University  Herald, 
and  the  third,  on  the  death  of  the  Bishop  of  Winchester, — In 
obitum  Praeconis  Academici  Cantabrigiensis  and  In  obitiim 
Praesulis  Wiyitoniensis, — were  written  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen. Elegy  Four,  composed  during  the  long  vacation  of 
1627,  was  addressed  "to  Thomas  Young,  his  praeceptor,  dis- 
charging the  office  of  pastor  among  the  English  merchants  at 
Hamburg" — Ad  Tliomam  Junium,  Praeceptorem  suum  apud 
Mercatores  Anglicos  Hamburgae  Agentes  Pastoris  Munere 
Fungentem.  It  was  a  fluent  exercise  in  elegiac  verse,  bidding 
the  exiled  Puritan  be  of  good  cheer  and  cling  to  hope,  the 
last  resort  for  the  wretched,  and  above  all  demonstrating 
that  his  old  pupil  had  not  neglected  his  Latin  or  his  classical 
mythology.' 

The  fifth  elegy,  on  the  Return  of  Spring, —/ii  Adventum 
Veris, — written  in  April,  1629,  contains  one  hundred  and 
forty  verses  heavy  with  mythological  allusions. •'^  The  sixth 
was  written  after  Christmas,  1629,  in  reply  to  verses  sent  by 
Diodati.  In  this  epistle  the  poet  mentions  his  occupation 
with  the  ode  on  the  Nativity;  and  gives  to  Diodati  a  signifi- 
cant picture  of  one  destined  to  become  an  epic  bard — a  writer 
of  Heaven  and  Hell:  he  must  live  plain,  follow  a  vegetable 
diet,  drink  water,  keep  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart.'  The 
seventeenth  elegy,''  written  at  nineteen,  celebrates  the  first 
love  pangs  of  the  poet,  who  on  the  first  of  May  had  looked 
too  closely  in  the  streets  of  London  atone  of  the  fair  maidens 
whom  he  called  in  his  first  elegy  the  glory  of  Britain. 

1  Masson  I,  119-120. 

2  Masson  I,  132. 

3  Do.,  15G  7. 

4  Do.  163-4. 

5  Do.  135-C>. 

-134— 


The  eigfht  short  pieces  followinpr  the  elegries  are  all  in 
elegiac  meter,  and  the  first  five  celebrate  Guy  Faux  and  the 
Gunpowder  Plot,  and  the  invention  of  punpov^der:  the  titles 
being:  In  Prodithvcm  Bombardicam,  InEandem,  In  Eandern, 
In  Eandern,  In  Inventorem  Bombardae.'^  Milton's  repeated 
celebration  of  that  dreadful  event  illustrates  the  force  of  the 
well-known  lines: 

I  see  no  reason  why  gunpower  treason 
Should  ever  be  forgot. 

The  last  three  pieces  in  the  book  of  elegies  belong  to 
Milton's  Italian  journey,  and  are  addressed  to  the  famous 
singer  Leonora  Baroni,  whom  he  heard  sing  at  Rome.  They 
are  entitled;  Ad  Leonoram  Romae  Canentem,  Ad  Eandern, 
Ad  Eandern :- 

Of  the  Silvarum  Ldber  the  first  on  the  death  of  the  Vice- 
chancellor's  physician, — In  Obitum  Procancellarii  Medici, — 
written  at  seventeen,  is  the  only  extant  example  of  Milton's 
original  Horatian  stanzas.  The  second  of  the  Silvae,  on  the 
Gunpowder  Plot,  or  On  the  Fifth  of  November, — In  Quintum 
Novembris, — is  in  Virgilian  Hexameters,  and  tells  the  story 
of  the  event  in  grand  epic  style  decorated  with  the  diction  of 
classical  mythology.  After  two  hundred  and  twenty-six 
majestic  verses,  the  story  ends  with  the  well-believed  opinion 
that  no  other  day  in  all  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  is 
so  notable  as  the  Fifth  of  November: 

Quintoqice  Novembris 
Nvlla  dies  toto  occurrit  celebratior  anno. 

The  third  of  the  Silvae,  in  the  only  extant  example  of 
Milton's  use  of  the  Iambic  Strophe,  commemorates  the  death 
of  the  Bishop  of  Ely.  The  fourth  is  in  hexameters,  wTitten 
in  1628  for  a  fellow-student  of  Christ's,  to  use  in  a  public  Act, 
and  sent  by  Milton  to  Alexander  Gill  along  with  a  Latin  letter 
on  July  2,  1628.''    It  is  a  scholastic  exercise  to  prove  by  fluent 

1  On  the  Gunpowder  Treason:    On  the  Same;  On  the  Same;    On  the 
Same;  On  the  Inventor  of  Gunpowder. 

2  To  Leonora,  singing  at  Rome;  To  the  Same;  To  the  Same.     Masson 
I,  635  6. 

3  Masson  I,  139-40. 

—135- 


rhetoric  that  Nature  never  suffers  old  age:  Naturam 
non  pati  Senium.  The  fifth  of  the  Silvae,  in  the  Iambic  Tri- 
meter, treats  the  Platonic  Idea, — De  Idea  Platonica, — being 
an  academic  exercise,  and  "is  interesting,"  says  Masson,  "as 
showing  Milton's  affection  for  Plato  and  his  philosophy." 
The  sixth  poem  in  the  Silvae,  addressed  to  the  poet's  father. 
Ad  patrem,  is  in  hexameters,  but  in  a  simpler  and  less  rhetor- 
ical strain  than  the  academic  pieces.  It  is  an  interesting  bit 
of  autobiography,  showing  the  elder  Milton's  early  encour- 
agement of  his  son's  poetic  tastes,  and  the  young  man's  grat- 
itude for  that  friendship  and  sympathy. 

Of  the  Greek  pieces,  the  first  is  a  translation  in  hexa- 
meters of  the  ll4th  Psalm;  the  second  contains  five  hexa- 
meters, being  the  answer  of  a  philosopher  to  the  king  who 
had  by  accident  placed  him  among  the  criminals.  The  Latin 
poems  following  the  Greek  were  addressed  to  Italian 
friends  of  Milton's— the  first,  in  scazons,  to  Salsillus,  the 
Roman  poet  who  was  sick.  Ad  Salsillum,  Poetam  Romanum, 
Aegrotantem;  the  second  in  hexameters,  to  Mansus.  After 
these  was  placed  Epitaphiiim  Damonis.  The  1673  edition  of 
the  minor  poems  added,  after  Epitaphiiim  Damonis,  the 
poem  in  strophes  and  antistrophes,  addressed  in  1647  to  John 
Rous— A(i  Joannem  Rousium.  Rous  was  librarian  in  the 
Bodleian  of  Oxford,  and  Milton  had  sent  him  a  volume  of  his 
prose  and  one  of  his  poetry  to  be  placed  in  the  library.  The 
poetry  was  lost  in  transmission,  and  at  Rous's  request  the 
poet  forwarded  a  second  volume,  with  this  ode  written  on  a 
sheet  of  paper  and  inserted  by  a  binder  between  the  English 
and  Latin  parts  of  the  volume.  In  elaborate  form,  with 
three  strophes  each  followed  by  an  antistrophe  and  the  whole 
concluded  by  an  epode,  the  poet  speaks  affectionately  to  his 
little  book  which  he  is  sending  on  its  way  to  a  secure  and 
happy  seat  in  the  home  of  the  muses.  ^ 

Epitaphium  Damonis  was  written  after  Milton's  return 
to  England  in  1639,  in  memory  of  his  dearest  friend,  his  old 


1  Masson  III,  646  ff. 

—136— 


schoolmate  and  correspondent,  Charles  Diodati,  who  had  died 
while  the  poet  was  absent  on  his  Italian  journey.  Its  two 
hundred  and  nineteen  hexameters  follow  the  eclogues  of 
Vir<?il  in  the  pastoral  machinery,  and  in  the  repetition  of  one 
melancholy  line  addressed  by  the  shepherd  to  his  flock.  And 
as  in  Eclogue  V  Mopsus  and  Menalcas  lament  the  death  of 
their  fellow-shepherd  Daphnis,  Mopsus  beginning  with  a 
strain  of  grief  and  Menaicas  ending  with  a  triumphant 
apotheosis  of  their  departed  friend;  so  in  Milton's  poem, 
Thyrsis  at  first  can  only  bewail  the  loss  of  Damon,  but  comes 
at  last  to  behold  him  risen  high  above  earth  and  seated  among 
the  eternal  gods.  In  this  same  exultant  vision  Milton  ended 
his  other  great  elegy,  Lycidas;  and  like  Lycidas  and  other 
poems  by  the  same  author,  Epitaphium  Damonis  mingles 
freely  together  elements  of  the  pagan  and  Christian  religions. 
Another  point  of  interest  in  the  Epitaphium  Damonis  is 
the  poet's  reference  to  an  epic  theme  under  contemplation: 
he  would  choose  a  subject  from  the  ancient  Britons  and  cele- 
brate it  in  his  native  speech. 

0,  mihi  turn  si  vita  siipersit. 
Til  procul  annosa  pendebis,  fistula,  pinu 
Midtum  oblita  mihi,  aut  patriis  mutata  Camoenis 
Brittonicum  strides!    Quid  enim?    Omnia  non  licet  uni, 
Non  sperasse  uni  licet  omnia;  mi  satis  ampla 
Merces,  et  mihi  grande  decus  (sim  ignotus  in  aevum 
Turn  licet,  extern/)  penitusque  inglorius  orhi) , 
Si  mihi  Uava.  comas  legat  Usa,  et  potor  Alauni, 
Vorticihusque  frequens  Abra,  et  nemus  omne  Treantae, 
Et  Thamesis  meus  ante  omnes,  etfusca  metallis 
Tamara,  et  extremis  me  discant  Or  cades  undis.^ 

The  ambitious  young  poet  would  be  content  to  remain 
unknown  in  the  learned  world  beyond  his  native  island,   if 

1  O  then,  if  life  shall  be  spared  me, 

Thou  shalt  be  hung,   my  pipe,   far  off  on  some  brown  dying  pine-tree. 
Much  forgotten  of  me;  or  else  your  Latian  music 

—137— 


by  celebrating  a  patriotic  theme  in  his  mother  tongue  he 
could  attain  high  honor  among  his  countrymen.  This  elegy 
was  to  be  his  last  effort  in  the  composition  of  Latin  verse: 
but  he  little  knew  at  the  time  what  Latin  prose  he  had  to 
write  in  defending  an  English  cause  before  an  astonished 
world. 

In  passing  from  the  consideration  of  Milton's  own  poems, 
we  may  take  a  glance  at  the  Latin  poems  written  to  him  or 
in  connection  with  his  own  works  of  fame.  In  1652  appeared 
at  the  Hague  the  Regii  Sanguinis  Clamor,  already  discussed 
in  Chapter  VI.  It  was  a  cry  raised  in  the  same  cause  in 
which  the  mighty  Salmasius  perished  at  the  hands  of  Milton, 
and  it  paid  respects  to  both  the  Frenchman  and  the  English- 
man. "At  the  end  of  the  book  are  appended  two  sets  of 
Latin  verses  One  is  a  'Eucharistic  Ode',  in  eighteen  Hora- 
tian  stanzas  of  sustained  eulogy,  'To  the  Great  Salmasius  for 
his  Royal  Defence,'  The  other  consists  of  no  fewer  than  245 
lines  of  scurrilous  Iambics  addressed  'To  the  Bestial  Black- 
guard John  Milton,  the  Advocate  of  Parricides  and  Parricide* 
('In  Impurissimum  Nebulonem,  Johannem  Miltonum,  Parri- 
cidarum  et  Parricidi  Advocatum', )"'  This  followed  the  style 
in  which  Milton  himself  was  an  accomplished  master. 

Fortunately  the  poet  had  some  friends  among  the  muses. 
In  1674  the  Second  edition  of  Paradise  Lost  contained  two  sets 
of  commendatory  Latin  verses  prefixed.  The  one  was  in 
elegiacs  on  The  Paradise  Lost  of  John  Milton  Chief  of  Poets 
{hi  Paradisum  Amissam  'Summi  Poetae  Johannis  Miltoni) , 


Changed  for  the  British  war-screech!  What  then?  For  one  to  do  all  things. 
One  to  hope  all  things,  fits  not!     Prize  sufficiently  ample 
Mine,  and  distraction  great  (unheard  of  ever  thereafter 
Though  I  should  be,  and  inglorious,  all  through  the  world  of  the  stranger', 
If  but  the  yellow- haired  Ouse  shall  read  me,  the  drinker  of  Alan, 
Humber,  which  whirls  as  it  flows,  and  Trent's  whole  valleys  of  orchards, 
Thames,  my  own  Thames,  above  all,  and  Tamar's  western  waters, 
Tawny  with  ores,  and  where  the  white  waves  swinge  the  far  Orkneys. 

-Masson  II,  91-92. 

1  Masson  IV,  457. 

-138- 


signed  S.  B.  M.  D.:  the  other  was  in  English  Heroics,  signed 
A.  M.  S.  B.  was  Dr.  Samuel  Barrow,  A.  M.  was  Andrew 
Marvell,  who  if  it  had  pleased  him  might  also  have  put  his 
lines  in  Latin.' 

In  1686  the  first  Book  of  Paradisfe  Lost,  translated  into 
Latin  by  several  hands,-  was  published  in  London  by  Thomas 
Bring,  proprietor  of  the  currrnt  edition  of  Milton's  minor 
poems.  Though  the  poet  in  Epitaphium  Damonis  declared 
he  would  rest  content  without  poetic  fame  abroad,  if  he 
could  achieve  glory  by  an  English  epic,  yet  other  men,  for 
his  fame  or  their  own,  were  not  satisfied  to  leave  any  great 
thing  unconquered  by  the  language  of  imperial  Rome. 

In  1683  Oxford  University  remembered  her  devotion  to 
Charles  I  and  her  hatred  of  his  old  enemies,  by  passing  a 
decree  to  burn  the  books  of  the  author  of  Eicorwclastes  and 
Defensio  pro  Popiilo.  The  following  lines  are  from  an 
academic  poem  which  took  note  of  the  event: 

In  media  videos  flamma  crepitante  cremari 
Miltonum  caelo  terrisque  inamabUe  nomen.^ 
It  was  a  grievous  epitaph  over  the  ashes  of  great    Latin 
arguments. 

1  Masson,  VI,  714. 

2  Do.  784. 

3  Do.  814.     The  lines  may  be  freely  rendered: 

You  see  that  eager  flame?    you  smell  that  paper  smoke  ? 

It's  Milton  burning,  now  a  name  to  heaven  and  earth — a  joke. 


CHAPTER  X. 
Diffusion  of  Latin. 

Out  of  the  intimate  knowledge  of  Latin  and  out  of  the 
many  services  it  performed  in  high  places,  there  grew  a 
feeling  and  sentiment  among  men  in  favor  of  the  noble  and 
venerable  language, — a  sentiment  strong  in  the  individual 
mind  and  a  hundredfold  intensified  by  academic  national 
tradition.  It  was  a  feeling  as  persistent  and  as  universal  as 
patriotism  itself,  and  oftentimes  very  closely  allied  with  it. 
To  improve  scholarship,  that  is,  classical  learning,  among  the 
people  was  to  strengthen  and  glorify  the  nation.  There  was 
a  certain  active  faith,  deep-rooted  in  the  centuries  and  over- 
shadowing the  present,  that  throughout  the  history  and 
development  of  England,  her  institutions,  society,  and  laws 
had  drawn  vital  nourishment  from  the  ever-living  Latin  and 
that  they  would  continue  to  cling  to  that  language  as  a  gracious 
and  blessed  foster-mother. 

This  atmosphere  and  sentiment  for  Latin  learning  per- 
vades the  literature  and  history  of  the  times  persistently  and 
unfailingly.  Even  when  one  cannot  lay  hands  on  the  Latin 
product  as  a  whole,  he  can  nevertheless  detect  a  flavor  ex- 
tracted from  the  old  language  and  literature.  The  taste  of 
men  for  ages  had  been  cultivated  to  relish  this  classical 
learning  as  the  most  delicious  and  satisfying  of  all  food  for 
the  mind;  and  only  pity  or  contempt  was  felt  for  him  who 
could  not  or  did  not  appreciate  these  good  things  The  sev- 
enteenth century  scholar  loved  learning  not  otherwise  than 
the  old  Romans  loved  liberty,  as  a  thing  sweet  in  itself. 

Men  turned  to  Latin  reading  or  composition  for  pleasure, 
recreation,  and  comfort.  The  Earl  of  Montrose,  defeated  of 
his  political  ambition  in  1641,  retired  to  his  estates,  went 
hunting  now  and  then,  but  found  "his  chief  delights  in  bits  of 

—140— 


Latin  reading,  dreams  of  PlutarcVi's  lieroes,  and  the  writing 
of  scraps  of  verse."'  William  Seymour,  eleventh  Earl  of 
Hertford,  lived  habitually  in  the  country,  "a  nobleman  of 
great  fortune,  honor  and  interest,  of  very  good  parts  and  con- 
versant with  books,  both  of  Latin  and  Greek  tongues," 

The  famous  Lord  Falkland,  whom  Clarendon  exhausted 
his  eloquence  and  generosity  in  praising,  married  against  his 
father's  pleasure,  and  retired  to  his  estate  to  give  himself  up 
to  the  study  of  Greek  and  other  kindred  subjects.  At  Tew, 
twelve  miles  from  Oxford,  his  home  became  a  resort  and  club 
house  for  scholars.-  Classical  atmosphere  mingled  with  social 
sentiments  and  became  a  part  of  high  friendly  fellowship. 

Honor  became  more  honorable  when  recorded  in  appro- 
priate language;  and  the  pride  of  birth  or  achievement  had 
an  instinctive  feeling  of  kinship  with  the  grand  superlative 
and  majestic  period.  No  man  ever  revealed  in  its  finest 
essence  the  aristocratic  Latin  spirit  better  than  did  Sir 
, Henry  Wotton,  the  accomplished  ambassador,  the  gentleman 
and  scholar  and  friend  of  scholars,  the  faithful  devotee  of 
poetry  and  religion.  As  Provost  of  Eton  in  his  last  years, 
**he  was,"  says  his  friend  and  biographer,  Isaac  Walton,  "a 
constant  cherisher  of  all  those  youths  in  that  School,  in 
whom  he  found  either  a  constant  diligence,  or  a  genius  that 
prompted  them  to  learning.  ...  He  would  also  often  make 
choice  of  some  observations  out  of  these  Historians  and 
Poets  [i.  e.,  those  of  Greece  and  Rome];  and  would  never 
leave  the  School,  without  dropping  some  choice  Greek  or 
Latin  apophthegm  or  sentence,  that  might  be  worthy  of  a 
room  in  the  memory  of  a  growing  scholar."^ 

With  the  same  faith  in  the  power  of  eloquence  and  the 
same  fatherly  wish  to  impart  a  useful  lesson.  Sir  Henry,  after 
his  return  from  his  last  embassy,  full  of  wisdom  and  honors, 
used  to  leave  behind,  at  houses  where  he  lodged,  copies  of 
the  inscription  under  his  coat  of  arms.     It  was  the  custom  to 

1  Masson  III,  341. 

2  Masson  I,  420-421. 

3  Walton's  Lives,  158-9  (Ed.  1852.). 

—141— 


hang  over  the  door  of  an  Envoy's  residence  a  painted  shield 
with  the  ambassadorial  titles  inscribed,  and  a  copy  of  these 
titles  it  was  that  Sir  Henry  Wotton  left  as  foot-prints  over 
England  to  guide  and  cheer  the  way-faring  reader: — 

Henricus  Wottonius  Anglo- Cantiajiiis,  Thomae  optimi 
viri  filius  natu  minimiis,  a  Serenissimo  Jacobo  I.  Mag.  Brit. 
Rege,  in  equestrem  titulum  adscitus,  ejusdemque  ter  ad  Rem- 
publicam  Venetam  Legatus  Ordinarius,  semel  ad  Confoede- 
ratarum  Provinciarum  Ordines  in  Jidiacensi  negotio.  Bis  ad 
Carolum  Emanuel,  Sabaudiae  Ducem;  semel  ad  Unitos  Su- 
perioris  Germaniae  Principes  in  Conventu  Heilbrunensi,  pos- 
tremo  ad  Archiducem  Leopoldum,  Ducem  Wittembergensem, 
Civitates  Imperiales,  Argentinam,  Ulmamque,  et  ipsum  Ro- 
manorum  Imperatorem  Ferdinandum  Secundum,  Legatus 
Extraordinarius,  tandem  hoc  didicit, 

Animas  fieri  sapientiores  quiescendo. ' 

It  was  characteristic  of  Wotton  to  attach  the  choice 
proverb  at  the  end  of  his  array  of  titles.  Great  was  his 
faith  in  the  moral  effect  of  wisdom  uttered  in  the  language 
of  learning.  Everything  he  did  or  said  radiated  a  moral  and 
classical  glow,  which  was  typical  of  the  religion  and  learning 
of  his  day. 

The  wide-spread,  pervasive  influence  of  Latin  culture 
appeared  in  scores  of  ways  in  the  literature  and  life  of  the 
time.  A  few  of  the  most  important  manifestations  will  be 
considered. 

I.     Literary  Titles. 

An  interesting  expression  of  classical  culture  is  found  in 


1  Henry  Wotton,  an  Englishman  of  Kent,  youngest  son  of  Thomas, 
an  excellent  man;  raised  to  the  equestrian  rank  by  the  most  serene 
James  I,  King  of  Great  Britain,  and  three  times  his  ambassador  in  ordi- 
nary to  the  Republic  of  Venice,  once  to  the  States  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces in  the  affair  of  Juliers;  twice  ambassador  extraordinary  to  Charles 
Emanuel,  Duke  of  Swabia;  once  to  the  united  Princes  of  Upper  Ger- 
many in  the  Heilbronn  convention;  finally  to  Archduke  Leopold,  Duke  of 
Wiirtumberg,  to  the  Imperial  States  Argentina  and  Ulm.  and  to  Ferdi- 
nand II,  Roman  Emperor.      After  all,  this  is  the  chief  thing  he  learned: 

It    is    QUIET    that    makes   the  heart  wise. —Walton's    Lives,    155. 
(Ed.  1862). 

—142— 


the  'titles  to  Enc^lisli  literary  worlds  In  prose  and  verse.  Eveti 
"if  a  book  for  good  reason  was  not  composed  in  the  learned 
tongue,  it  could  at  least  show  some  relationship  with  learning 
by  exhibiting  a  Greek  or  Latin  name,  and  could  present  a 
more  confident  face  to  the  reading  world  by  having  a  grand 
and  imposing  title-page.  The  real  name  for  such  a  book  was 
put  in  a  Greek  or  Latin  word  or  phrase,  which  was  followed 
by  a  translation,  or  a  diffuse  paraphrase  explaining  the  secret 
wrapped  up  in  the  oftentimes  allegorical  or  conceited  main 
title.  This  explanation  was  very  necessary:  the  classic  word 
or  phrase,  whose  business  was  to  herald  the  author  as  a 
^scholar,  aimed  at  impressive  sound,  showy  appearance— any- 
thing but  simplicity  or  intelligibility. 

Examples  will  illustrate  the  characteristic  features  of 
the  fashionable  title.  In  1631,  William  Porster,  M.  A., 
parson  at  Hedgeley  in  Bucks,  published  *'Hoplocrisma  Spon^ 
^iis:  Or  a  Sponge  to  wipe  away  the  Weapon  Salve.  Wherein 
is  proved  that  the  cure  taken  up  amongst  us,  by  applying  the 
Salve  to  the  Weapon,  is  magical  and  unlawful."'  This  is  ^ 
good  example  of  the  conceited  title,  much  sought  after  in 
that  age  of  conceits.  John  Donne,  head  of  the  Metaphysical 
Poets,  published  '^B'.a:fld^a?.o^--  A  Declaration  of  that  Paradox 
or  Thesis,  that  Self-Homicide  is  not  so  naturally  a  sin,  that  it 
may  not  be  otherwise."'  A  timely  pamphlet,  published  in 
1645  by  Thomas  Edwards,  had  an  apt  title,  revealing  both 
the  spirit  of  the  treatise  and  the  sectarian  bitterness  of  the 
times.  The  work  was:  "Gangraena:  or,  a  Catalogue  and 
Discovery  of  many  of  the  Errors,  Heresies,  Blasphemies,  and 
Pernicious  Practices  of  the  Sectaries  of  this  time."''  The 
most  famous  pamphlet  of  the  age,  published  with  great 
secrecy  and  in  very  mysterious  circumstances,  on  February 
9,  1649,  was:  "Eixt^.  lian'My.r;:  The  True  Portraiture  of  His 
Sacred  Majestic  in  his  Solitude  and  Sufferings."  Following 
the  title   were  the  mottoes:     "More  than   conqueror,    &c. 


1  Wood,  Fasti.  Part  1 1,  573. 

2  Wood,  Fasti,  Part  1 1,  503. 

3  Masson  1 1 1,  141. 

—143- 


Bona  agere  etmala  pati  Regium  est/'^  In  a  prefixed  alle- 
gorical design  various  other  mottoes  were  placed,  purporting 
to  illustrate  the  character  of  the  fallen  king;  e.g. :  Clarior  e 
tenebris,  Crescit  siib  ponder e  virtus.  In  verbo  tuo  spes  mea.^ 
Published  as  the  written  meditations  of  King  Charles  I 
during  the  last  year  of  his  life,  the  book  became  immediately 
popular  in  England.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  alarmed  Coun- 
cil of  State,  Milton  wrote  an  attack  upon  the  royalist  pamph- 
let, and  named  his  own  work  Er/.ir^ir/.?.d(7rrj<;  [Image-breaker]  — 
a  brilliant  title  in  idea  and  magnificent  in  sound,  typical  of 
the  smashing  effect  it  was  expected  to  have  and  in  some 
measure  did  have  upon  its  enemy.  ^ 

The  first  Er/.u)-^  founded  a  numerous  family.  Besides  the 
Ehiwr/MifTzfj-i  of  Milton,  there  appeared  in  August,  1649,  an 
anonymous  pamphlet  entitled:  ''Ehw-^  'A^Of.r;:  The  Portraiture 
of  Truth's  Most  Sacred  Majesty,"  denying  the  royal  author- 
ship of  the  original  Eixai^^  and  giving  the  theory  that  it  was 
written  by  some  English  Prelate  or  Doctor."*  On  September 
11,  of  the  same  year,  was  published  another  pamphlet  in  the 
same  quarrel:  "Er/.wy  ^  Tttffzyj^  or  the  Faithful  Portraiture  of  a 
Loyal  Subject,  in  Vindication  of  Et/.w.'  Batniurj,^''^  In  1651  was 
issued:  Ei/.uy^  '' Ay.).a<Tzo^\  The  Image  Unbroken:  A  Perspective 
of  the  Impudence,  Falsehood,  Vanitie,  and  Prophannes,  pub- 
lished in  a  Libell  entitled  Ei/MMr/Minzr^^  against  EIaIo.>  Ba<T'.).iy.r]  or 
the  portraiture  of  his  Sacred  Majestie  in  his  Solitudes  and 
Sufferings."  These  defenders  of  Charles  thought  it  safest 
to  publish  anonymously  for  the  present. 

Other  semi-classical  titles  given  by  Milton  to  English 
works  are  as  follows,  ''Areopagitica:  a  Speech  for  the  Lib- 
erty of  Unlicensed  Printing."  "Tetrachordon:  Exposition  of 
the  Four  chief  Places  in  Scripture  which  treat  of  marriage, 

1  To  do  good  and  Suffer  evil  is  the  fate  of  kings. 

2  Brighter  after  darkness;   Virtue  grows  under  oppression;    In   thy 
word  is  my  hope. 

3  For  accounts  of  both  pamphlets,  se«  Masson  IV,  33,  132. 

4  Maseon  IV,  130. 

5  Do.  131. 

—144— 


or  Nullities  in  Marriage."  "Colasterion:  a  Reply  tx)  a 
Nameless  Answer  against  the  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of 
Divorce. ' '  '  'Samson  Agonistes :  A  Dramatic  Poem. ' '  Though 
the  title  of  this  last  work  was  simple  enough,  the  rest  of  the 
title  page   contained   perplexities   to  warn   the   unlearned: 

"Aristot,.       Poet.     Cap.     6.       Tftayujl^ia    /lifirjtrt^^    Trpd^eax:    (tTzoofiaiaf^ 

&c.  Tragaedia  est  imitatio  actionis  seriae,  &c.  Per  miseri- 
cordiam  et  metiim  perfidens  talium  affectionum  lustra- 
tionem."^  It  is  fortunate  that  the  English  mood  of  Milton 
predominated  when  he  finally  determined  the  title  of  Para- 
dise Lost.  It  would  have  been  no  small  impediment  to  the 
fame  of  the  great  English  epic  to  be  called  by  such  a  phrase, 
for  example,  as  Paradisus  Amissus.^ 

1 1.     Phrases  and  Forms. 

In  registers  and  minute-books  Latin  was  customarily 
used  for  recording  date  and  place.  The  Journals  of  Parlia- 
ment were  kept  in  English,  but  various  set  phrases  were  put 
in  Latin.  For  example:  Die  Veneris,  W  Augusti,  1642:  Die 
Martis,  6^  die  Fehruarii;  Hodie  3^  vice  lecta  est  Billa,^  an  act, 
etc.;  Domini  presentes  fuerunt:  Comes  Denbigh,  Speaker, 
Comes  Northumberland;  House  adjourned  till  10  eras.'* 

A  petition  sent  by  the  Universities  to  Parliament,  though 
in  English,  preferred  to  have  date  and  place  subscribed  in 
Latin.  For  instance,  the  petition  of  the  University  of  Oxford 
to  Long  Parliament  for  the  continuance  of  religious  houses 
and  revenues  bore  the  following  subscription:  Dat.  Anno 
Dom.  Millesimo  Sexcent.  Quad'  primo  e  domo  Convocationis, 
in  celebri  Conventu  Doctorum  ac  Magistrorum,  omnibus  et 
singulis  Assentientibus.^   Orders  made    in    Star    Chamber, 

1  Tragedy  is  the  imitation  of  serious  action,  through  pity  and  fear 
purifying  such  affections.     Masson  VI,  661. 

2  The  Latin  for  Paradise  Lost. 

3  Today  the  bill  was  read  the  third  time.  The  following  Lords  were 
present.    Die  Veneris— Friday,  Die  A/arfts— Tuesday. 

•I  Till  tomorrow.  For  these  items  and  others  of  like  nature,  see  Mas- 
son  II,  349;  IV,  4;  Rushworth  V,  564. 

s  Done  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1641  in  the  House  of  Convocation,  in 
full  session  of  Doctors  and  Masters,  one  and  all  agreeing.  Rushworth, 
IV,  270-1. 

—145— 


though  in  E"nglfsh^  were  headed  fn  Latfn  phrases^,  e.  g'.  r  Fm. 
Camera  Stellata  coram  concUio  ibidem  vicesimo  tertio  Aiigusti 
Anno  Nono  Car'  Reg.^ 

Entries  in  the  parish  registers  of  baptisms  and  deaths- 
were  sometimes  in  Latin,  sometimes  in  the  vernacular^ 
according,  it  may  be,,  to  the  tastes  or  learning  of  the  family 
or  the  recorder.  Of  the  eleven  baptismal  entries'  of  the 
children  of  Richard  Powell,  Milton's  father-in-law,  only  the 
first  two  were  in  Latin.  Of  the  thirty-one  obituary  entries 
in  the  Horton  parish  register  for  1636,  three  were  entirely  in 
Latin,  one  partially,  the  rest  in  English.  This  year  Milton's 
mother  was  buried  in  the  Horton  church,  and  the  record 

was:  Sara,  texor  Johni&  Milton^  generrm,  Aprilis  0^^^:  obiit 
3102 

Latin  was  used  for  recording  proceedings  in  courts  of 
law  and  for  writing  charters  and  bondsr^  by  bishops  for 
granting  letters  of  orders  to  approved  candidates  for  the 
ministry  ;'^  for  keeping  the  archiepisopal  records  at  Canter- 
bury f  in  granting  a  license  for  the  publication  of  a  book.*^ 
The  language  had  a  traditional  claim  on  the  routine  business 
of  church  and  state;  the  majesty  of  the  law  was  very  fittingly 
represented  by  what  Milton  called  "the  venerable  Latian 
mother,  hoary  with  years,  and  crowned  with  the  respect  of 
ages."^ 

Statues  and  portraits  commonly  bore  the  name  of  subject 
and  artist  in  Latin,  often  with  the  addition  of  a  motto  in  the 
same  language.  Greek  was  less  frequently  used  for  the 
same  purpose.     The  presentation  of  a  book  by  one  scholar  to 


1  In  the  Star  Chamber,  in  the  presence  of  the  Council  in  the  same 
place,  on  the  23rd  day  of  August  in  the  9th  year  of  the  reign  of  Charles- 
Rushworth  1 1,  189. 

2  Sara,  wife  of  John  Milton,  gentleman;  buried  April  6th;  died  April 
3rd.     Masaon  I,  603-4, 

:<  Emerson's  English  Language,?  83. 

■»  Wood's  Fasti,  Part  I,  380,  foot-note. 

»  Fuller's  Church  History,  VI,  57.     Brewer's  Rhtion. 

6  iMasson  I,  431-2. 

5  Familiar  Letter,  VIIL 

—146— 


another,  or  by  an  author  to  a  library,  properly  recorded  the 
fact  in  a  Latin  phrase  or  sentence.  In  the  Library  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  a  small  quarto  volume  of  Milton's 
pamphlets  exhibits  this  inscription  in  his  autograph:  Ad  doc- 
tissimum  virum,  Patricium  Junium,  Joannes  Miltonius  haec 
sua,  unum  in  fasciculum  conjecta,  mittit,  paucis  hujusmodi 
lecforibus  coyitentus.^  Young,  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
scholars  of  his  time,  especially  in  Greek,  was  from  1605  to 
1649  Keeper  of  the  King's  Library  in  St.  James,  London. 
In  presenting  a  volume  of  works,  or  any  other  gift,  to  such 
a  man,  a  man  like  Milton  could  not  lightly  have  ignored  the 
ceremony  of  a  Latin  greeting. 

III.     Dedications. 

Books  written  in  Latin,  if  dedicated  at  all,  naturally 
employed  the  same  language  for  that  purpose.  English 
works,  intended  for  scholarly  readers,  preferred  to  use  the 
learned  tongue  in  dedication,  since  it  was  usually  a  learned 
gentleman  to  whom  the  address  was  made.  The  custom  of 
inscribing  books  to  King,  Archbishop,  nobleman,  or  other 
high  patron  of  literature,  required  that  the  address  be  made 
as  complimentary  and  dignified  as  possible.  Readers  of  the 
book,  for  their  part,  though  they  might  find  it  more 
convenient  to  go  through  the  main  body  in  English,  would 
nevertheless  be  pleased  to  try  their  Latin  in  a  page  or  two 
of  dedication. 

The  dedication  of  the  sixth  edition  of  Robert  Burton's 
Anatomy  of  Melancholy  was  in  the  conventional  style,  with 
a  record  of  virtues  and  worldly  honors  set  down  in  order, 
and  abundant  decoration  of  superlatives.  It  is  as  follows: 
Honoratissimo  Domino,  non  mimes  Virtute  Sua,  quam  Ge- 
neris Splendore,  Illustrissimo,  GEORGIO  BERKLEIO,  Milite 
de  Balneo,  Baroni  de  Berkley,  Moubrey,  Segrave,  D.  dc  Bruse, 
Domino  suo  midtis  nominihus  Observando,  Hanc  Suam 
MELANCHOLIAE  ANATOMEN,  Jam  Sexto  Revisam,  D. 


1  To  the  most  learned  man,  Patrick  Young,  John  Milton  sends  these 
his  works  bound  in  a  single  volume,  content  with  a  few  readers  like  him. 
Masson  III,  645-6. 


-147- 


D.  DemocrittLs  Junior.  ^  Kurton  was  not  content  with  so  brief 
an  offering  to  the  learned.  He  put  in  his  preface  a  Latin  poem 
of  ninety  elegiac  lines,  entitled  Democritus  Junior  ad  Librum 
Sicum,and  after  one  hundred  and  forty  pages  of  English  intro- 
duction to  the  Reader,  he  added  a  half-page  of  special  address; 
to  the  Busy  Reader— Lectort  male  Feriato.  There  next  appear 
ten  Latin  elegiacs  to  Heraclitus;  after  all  which  humorous- 
ceremony  the  business  of  the  book  begins. 

Fuller,  like  Burton,  was  full  of  conceits  and  humors, 
which  often  found  exercise  in  display  of  curious  learning. 
His  History  of  Cambridge  has  nine  Sections,  and  each  Sec- 
tion,, except  the  first,  is  prefaced  by  an  address  to  some  hon- 
orable friend.  All  these  addresses  except  the  ninth  are  in 
Latin.  The  first  of  these  sectional  dedications,  occupying 
nearly  two  pages,  is  directed  to  the  "Most  reverend  prelate,, 
James  Usher,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  his  most  worshipfu! 
Lord,'' — Reverendissimo  Anstiti,  Jacobo  Usserio,  Archiepi- 
scopo  Armachano,  Domino  suo  Colendissimo.'^  The  average 
length  of  these  dedications  is  about  half  a  page.  The  last, 
addressed  to  Thomas  Player,  exemplifies  the  genial  humor  of 
Fuller.  Tandem  aliquando,  he  begins,  Deo  duce,  post  varios 
a.nfructus,  et  vias  invias,  ad  Historiae  finem  peruenticm  est 
,  .  .  .  .  Opus  mihi  igitur  jam  concludenti,  patrano,  non 
FORTI  minus  qui  possit,  quam  miti  qui  velit,  me  nutantem 
sustentare,  vel  forte  labascentem  erigere.^  It  is  curious 
that  a    book    so  adorned    throughout   with   Latin  should 

1  To  the  most  honored  Lord,  most  illustrious  by  reason  of  his  own 
merit  no  less  than  by  the  splendor  of  his  birth, George  Berkley,  Knight  of 
the  Bath,  Baron  Berkeley,  Mowbray,  Segrave,  and  Bruce,  his  Lord  to 
be  greeted  by  nnany  names,  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  in  the  sixth 
revision,  is  dedicated  by  Democritus  Junior.  —  Middleton's  ed.  Anatomy 
of  Melancholy. 

2  For  mention  of  Archbishop  Usher's  contributions  to  our  Latin  liter- 
ature, see  above.  Chapter  VI. 

3  Now  at  last,  by  the  guidance  of  God,  after  various  windings  and 
pathless  ways,  I  have  come  to  the  end  of  my  History.  On  the  point  of 
concluding  my  work,  I  have  need  of  a  patron,  not  only  one  who  has  the 
courage  and  power,  but  also  one  who  has  the  kindness,  to  uphold  me 
when  1  stagger  or  uplift  me  when  I  faint. 

—148- 


liave  had  its  Initial  dedication,  *'To  t"he  Honoura>)1e 
Banister  Maynard,  Esquire,"  and  its  general  preface,  both  in 
English.  The  Church  History,  by  the  same  author,  has  only 
•one  of  its  sections  prefaced  with  a  Latin  address  after  the 
manner  of  the  History  of  Cambridge,  that  is.  Section  IX  of 
Volume  VI. 

IV.     Epitaphs. 

The  esteem  of  Latin  above  English  on  occasions  of  dig- 
nity and  formality  was  nowhere  more  strikingly  exhibited 
than  in  epitaphs.  The  appropriateness  of  the  older  language 
for  this  purpose  was  conservatively  maintained  for  genera- 
tions and  has  not  yet  altogether  yielded  to  the  language  of 
the  people.  If  Dr.  Johnson  in  1776  wrote  Goldsmith's  epi- 
taph in  Latin,  refusing,  as  he  said,  to  disgrace  the  walls  of 
Westminster  Abbey  with  an  English  epitaph,  in  Milton's  day 
there  was  less  argument  in  favor  of  English  for  such  obituary 
dignity.  The  vernacular  had  indeed  come  into  prominent 
use  in  epitaph-writing,  but  the  pomp  anrd  impressiveness  of 
the  venerable  ancient  tongue  were  still  commonly  sought  by 
the  conservative  and  the  learned.^ 

It  was  not  uncommon  for  a  scholar  to  bequeath  his  own 
epitaph  to  his  memory,  and  thus,  if  possible,  insure  himself 
against  a  nameless  tomb  or  a  mere  English  inscription.  Such 
a  careful  testator  was  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  who  illustrated 
nearly  all  the  correct  Latin  tendencies  of  the  time.  After 
giving  directions  in  his  will  as  to  the  disposal  of  his  body,  he 
proceeded  to  command  his  executors  to  erect  over  his  grave  a 
a  marble  stone,  plain  and  not  costly.  "And  considering," 
says  Walton,  his  biographer,  "that  time  moulders  even 
marble  to  dust;  for 

Monuments  themselves  must  die, 

therefore  did  he  (waving  the  common  way)  think  fit  rather 
to  preserve  his  name  (to  which  the  son  of  Sirach  adviseth  all 
men)  by  a  useful  apophthegm  than  by  a  large  enumeration 
of  his  descent  or  merits,  of  both  which  he  might  justly  have 
boasted ;  but  he  was  content  to  forget  them,  and  did  choose 


1  Chronicles  of  the  Tombs.     Pettigrew,  pfx  37,  52~55. 

—149— 


only  this  prudent,  pious  sentence,  to  discover  his  disposition 
and  preserve  his  memory.  It  was  directed  by  him  to  be  thus 
inscribed: 

Hie  jacet  hujus  sententiae  primus  author, 

Disputandi  Pruritus  Ecclesiarum  Scabies. 

Nomen  alias  quaere. 

Which  may  be  Englished  thus:  Here  lies  the  first  author  of 
this  sentence:  The  itch  of  disputation  will  prove  the  scab  of 
the  church.     Inquire  his  name  elsewhere."' 

An  epitaph  prepared  by  the  subject  of  it  or  by  others 
was  not  always  piously  inscribed.  It  may  have  been  neg- 
lected by  friends,  or  omitted  for  lack  of  friends,  or  apparently 
in  some  cases  by  reason  of  its  very  length.  An  instance  is 
recorded  by  Wood  of  Thomas  Roe,  scholar,  gentleman, 
courtier,  who  died  in  1644  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of 
Woodford  near  to  Nausted  in  Essex.  "I  shall  gratify  the 
reader,"  says  Wood, ^  "with  a  most  noble  epitaph  made  for 
him  by  Langbaine,  but  for  what  reason  it  was  not  put  over 
his  grave  I  know  not."  The  epitaph  is  given, — an  elaborate 
affair  of  over  three  hundred  words  in  Latin  prose  and  about 
sixty  in  English.  To  look  at  it  is  to  wonder  how  Wood  could 
have  been  in  doubt  as  to  why  it  was  never  inscribed. 

The  purpose  of  an  epitaph  to  honor  the  dead  is  often 
unfulfilled  in  the  case  of  the  long  Latin  ones,  which  turn 
the  mind  of  the  reader  from  thought  of  the  person  praised  to 
admiration  of  the  eloquent  composer.  Oftentimes  the  most 
lavish  and  elaborate  inscription  is  bestowed  on  a  name  other- 
wise unremembered,  while  a  distinguished  scholar  may 
receive  only  the  meager  record  of  birth  and  death.  This  was 
true  of  John  Selden,  one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  his  age. 
Dying  in  1654,  he  was  buried  in  the  Temple  Church,  and  his 
epitaph,^  though  properly  in  Latin,  had  not  a  word  concern- 
ing his  character  and  attainments.  But  in  1659  when  his 
library  was  acquired  by  the  University  of  Oxford,   a  tablet 

1  Walton's  Lives,  168-9  ( Ed.  1852) ;  Lyte's  Eton,  236-6. 
3  Wood's  Athenae,  1 1 1,  114. 

3  Fuller's  Worthies,  1 1 1,  259;  Wood's  Athenae,  I.  XXXVII-VIII, 
foot  note. 

-150- 


^appropriately  inscribed  was  erected  in  a  window  of  the  rooTn 
where  the  books  were  placed.  In  this  tablet  Selden  was  said 
to  be  without  a  peer  in  the  luster  of  genius,  purity  of  charac- 
ter, and  excellence  of  teaching  {nitore  ingemi,  caTidore 
morum,  praecellentia  doctrinae  imparilis  viri),  and  his  books 
were  dedicated  to  the  great  University  for  the  enduring 
memory  of  so  great  a  man  and  for  the  encouragement  of  lit- 
•erature  {in  duraturam  tanti  viri  memoriam  et  rei  literariae 
bonitm). 

The  epitaph  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon  was  brief  but  of  genu- 
ine significance,  composed  as  it  was  by  "that  accomplished 
gentleman  and  rare  wit,  Sir  Henry  Wotten,"  The  monu- 
ment, erected  in  St.  Michael's  Church  at  St  Alban's,  was 
of  white  marble  and  represented  the  full  figure  of  the  philos- 
'opher  in  the  posture  of  study.  The  inscription  was  as 
follows:^ 

Franciscus  Bacon,  Baro  de  Verulam,  St  Albani  Yicmes, 

Seu  notioribus  titulis 

Scientiarum  Lumen  Facundiae  Lex 

Sic  Sedebat 

Qui  postquam  Omnia  Naturalis  Sapientiae 

Et  Civilis  Arcana  Evolvisset 

Naturae  Decretum  Explevit 

An.  D«^"  M.  DC. XXVI 

Aetat^s  LXVL 

Tanti  Viri 

mem. 

Thomas  Meantus  * 

Superstitis  Cultor 

Defuncti  Admirator 

H.  P. 

1  Francis  Bacon,  Baron  Verulam,  Viscount  St  Albans,  or  of  more 
distinguished  titles,  — the  Ligh%of  Science  and  the  Law  of  Eloquence, — 
used  to  sit  thus.  Who  after  unfolding  all  the  secrets  of  natural  and  civil 
wisdom  fulfilled  the  decree  of  nature  that  the  organized  should  be  dis- 
solved, A.  D.  1626,  aet.  66.  In  memory  of  so  great  a  man  Thomas 
Meantus,  follower  while  he  lived,  admirer  since  he  is  dead,  places  this 
monument — Spedding,  I,  18. 

—151— 


When  the  subject  of  an  inscription  is  otherwise  unknown, 
the  interest  of  the  epitaph  lies  either  in  its  curious  sentiment 
or  peculiar  style.  For  Dr.  William  Butler,  M.  A  ,  the  most 
celebrated  physician  of  his  age,  everything  was  done  that 
inscriptions  could  do,  but  the  interest  now  is  in  the  eloquent 
effort  rather  than  in  the  man  honored  thereby.  He  died  at 
Cambridge  in  1618,  eighty-three  years  old,  and  "was  buried 
in  Great  St.  Mary's.  On  the  South  side  of  the  chancel  is  a 
mural  monument,  with  his  bust,  in  the  costume  of  the  period. 
Around  the  bust  is  inscribed,  'Nunc  PositisNovus  Exuviis.'  ' 
On  each  side  of  the  bust  is  a  statue,  one  of  labor,  the  other 
of  rest.  There  are  also  his  arms  (sable,  a  fess  lozengy, 
between  three  covered  cups,  or.)  and  these  inscriptions:" 
A  piece  of  Latin  prose,  six  Latin  elegiacs,  and  three  Latin 
hexameters.  They  all  praise  his  gifts  and  warn  other  men, 
if  he  died,  so  they.  For  example,  Abi  viator,  et  ad  tuos  re- 
versus  narra,  te  vidisse  locum  in  quo  Salu^  jacet.^  Fuller  so 
admired  the  prose  part  of  the  inscription  that  he  said  it 
"might  have  served  for  Joseph  of  Arimitheato  have  inscribed 
on  the  tomb  of  our  Saviour. '  '^ 

Robert  Burton,  author  of  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy, 
died  January  1640,  and  was  buried  in  the  Cathedral  of  Christ 
Church,  Oxford.  Over  his  grave  was  erected  a  comely  mon- 
ument, with  his  bust  painted  in  life.  On  the  right  hand  was 
given  the  calculation  of  his  nativity;  under  the  bust  this 
inscription  of  his  own  composition: 

Faucis  notus,  paucioribus  ignotus, 
Hie  jacet  Democritis  Junior 
Cui  vitam  dedit  et  mortem 
Melancholia.^ 
Thomas  Fuller  had  a  special  relish  for  interesting  epi- 
taphs, and  reproduced  many  a  one  in  his  book  of  English 

1  He  lives  a  new  life,  the  old  cast  off.     Cooper's  Cambridge,  III,  124. 

2  Go,  traveller,  return  to  your  people  aiyi  tell  them,  that  you  have 
seen  the  spot  v/here  Health  lies  buried. 

3  Fuller's  Hist.  Cambridge,  quoted  by  Cooper,  III,  124,  foot-note. 

4  Known  to  few,  unknown  to  fewer,  here  lies  Democritis  junior,  to 
whom  Melancholy  gave  both  life  and  death. —Middleton's  ed.  Anatomy  of 
Melancholy,  I,  10. 

—152— 


Worthies.  He  told  of  John  Gregory,  born  in  1607  and  bred 
at  Oxford,  that  "he  so  appHed  his  book,  that  he  studied  six- 
teen hours  of  the  four  and  twenty  for  many  years  together. 
He    attained    to    be    an    exquisite    linguist    and    general 

scholar I  find  a  smart  epitaph,  made  by  a  friend,  on 

his  memory;  and  it  was,  in  my  mind,  as  well  valiantly  (con- 
sider the  times)  as  truly  indited: 

Ne  premas  cineres  hosce,  viator, 
Nescis  quot  sub  hoc  jacet  lapillo; 
Graeculus,  Hebraeus,  Syrus, 
Et  qui  te  quovis  vincet  idiomate. 

At  ne  molestus  sis 
Ausculta,  et  causam  auribus  tuis  imbibe: 
Templo  exclusus 
Et  avita  Religione 
Jam  senescente  (ne  dicam  sublata) 

Mutavit  Chorum,  altiorem  ut  capesceret. 
Vade  nunc,  si  libet,  et  imitare."^ 
Fuller,  like  his  contemporaries  generally,  admired  a  fine 
Latin  phrase,  or  new  conceit,  cleverly  turned.     But  he  never 
seemed  happier  than  when  he  lighted  on  a  'smart  epitaph, 
valiantly  and  truly  indited.' 
V.  Mottoes. 

Mottoes  were,  like  epitaphs  and  dedications,  chips  from 
the  Latin  workshop.  It  was  the  custom  to  adorn  the  title- 
page  of  a  book  or  pamphlet  with  an  appropriate  text  from  a 
classic  author,  which  struck  the  key-note  of  the  treatise. 
Milton  was  devoted  to  this  custom.  His  Comus  when  first 
published  bore  between  the  title  and  the  publisher's  name  a 
line  from  Virgil's  second  Eclogue:  Eheu!  quid  volui  misero 
mihi?  Floribiis  austrum  perditus.'  He  chose  a  motto  from 
the  Hicetides  of  Euripides  for  Areopagitica,  in  1644;  and  one 


1  Stranger,  refrain  from  pressing  these  ashes;  you  know  not  how 
many  he  is  that  lies  under  this  stone:  Greek,  Hebrew,  Syrian,  and  one 
who  will  surpass  you  in  any  tongue  you  please.  But  lest  you  be  offended, 
listen,  and  drink  in  with  your  ears  the  reason:  Shut  out  from  the  temple 
and  his  ancestral  religion,  which  was  yielding  to  age  (not  to  mention 
attack),  he  gave  up  one  chorus  to  enter  a  higher.  Go  now,  if  you  like, 
and  imitate  him. — Fuller's  Worthies,  I,  p.  208. 

2  Alas,  what  have  I  done?    Ruined  my  flowers  with  the  south  wind. 

-153— 


from  the  Medea  for  His  Tetrachordon,  in  1645^.  For  his  Fast 
political  pamphlet,  the  Ready  and  Easy  Way  to  Establish  a 
Free  Commonwealth,  1660,  he  took  a  passage  from  the  bit- 
terest of  Roman  satirists,  Juvenal,  I,  15,  16:. 

Et  nos 
CoTisilvwm  dedimius Sullae;  demits  Pbpnlomtnc.^ 
The  reference  was  probably  Milton's  recent  letter  of  advice- 
to  General  Monk,  who  had  a  way  af  following-  his  own  coun- 
sel. The  quotation  suggests  the  ironical  and  satirical  mood, 
of  the  old  pamphleteer,  who  felt  the  foundations  of  liberty  as 
sand  under  his  feet. 

Personal  mottoes,  used  over  and  over  again  in  speech,  or 
writing,  or  ftxed  in  badges,  were  most  frequently  in  the 
serious  moral  language  of  the  Romans.  Wentworth-'s  cele- 
brated motto  of  Proemium  and  Poenar  furnished  the  key  for 
his  policy  of  Thorough.  George  Wither,  the  darling  poet  of 
the  people,  enjoyed  independence  in  the  mood  of  Nee  habeo, 
nee  careo,  nee  curo.'^  The  gallant  and  romantic  Marquis  of 
Montrose  had  a,  standard  of  white  damask,  blazoned  with. 
his  famous  device  of  the  lion  rampant  to  spring  the  chasm 
between  the  rocks,  and  motto  Nil  Medium,  Charles  I  cheered 
his  desperate  furtunes  with  Dum  spiro^  spero,  which  was  his 
favorite  sentence,  and  which  he  wrote  in  the  Second  Folio 
edition  of  Shakspeare^  and  many  other  of  his  books.  ^ 

VI.     Quotations. 

Not  all  men  wrote  books  or  made  s{>eeches  in  Latin,  but 
few  who  wrote  at  all  neglected  to  flavor  their  discourse  with 
classical  quotations.  The  sentences  of  the  Roman  moral  phil- 
osophers and  poets,  learned  in  school  and  impressed  on  the 
young  mind  by  exacting  tutors,  became  a  substantial  part  of 
a  man's  mental  equipment,  a  concrete,  measurable  fund  of 
knowledge  and  culture,  always  ready  for  use.  Men  have  at 
all  times  treasured  proverbs  and  words  fitly  spoken.     But 

1  We  have  given  advice  to  Sulla,  now  let  ua  try  the  people.     Masson 

V,  678. 

3  Punishment  and  Reward.     Masson  I,  548. 

•T  Do.,  .364.     I  have  nothing,  want  nothing,  and  I  don't  care. 

«  While  I  have  breath  I  have  hope.     Masson  1  I  I,  515,  foot  note. 

-154— 


during  this  age  of  intense  study  in  the  classics,  the  whole 
nation  seems  to  have  gone  hunting  for  the  aptest  sentences 
in  Latin  books  and  to  have  esteemed  discourse  according  to 
its  wealth  of  jewels  gathered  out  of  classics  minds. 

This  age  produced  the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  the  ne 
plus  ultra  of  quotation  gathering.  The  author,  Robert  Bur- 
ton, early  manifested  his  genius,  or  mania,  for  remembering 
and  applying  sentences  out  of  books,  and  became  famous  at 
the  University  of  Oxford  for  excelling  in  the  art  that  every- 
body ambitiously  cultivated.  He  was,  according  to  Wood,  a 
general  reader,  a  thorough-paced  philologist,  a  devourer  of 
authors.  "I  have  heard,"  he  writes,  "some  of  the  ancients 
of  Christ  Church  often  say,  that  his  company  was  very 
merry,  facete  and  juvenile;  and  no  man  in  his  time  did  sur- 
pass him  for  his  ready  and  dexterous  interlarding  his  common 
discourses  among  them  with  verses  from  the  poets,  or  sen- 
tences from  the  classical  authors;  which  being  then  all  the 
fashion  in  the  University,  made  his  company  the  more 
acceptable.'"' 

Burton  gave  his  genius  free  rein  in  making  up  his 
Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  which  was  first  published  in  1621 
and  attained  its  seventh  edition  in  1660.  For  this  book  the 
author  sifted  the  literatures  of  Greece,  Rome,  the  Bible,  and 
the  Mediaeval  Latinists;  he  "ransacked  the  ages,  spoiled  the 
climes."  The  Latin  classics  delivered  him  the  richest 
tribute.  Every  page  displays  quotations,  long  or  short, 
from  the  single  word  or  phrase  to  half  a  page  in  length. 
These  quotations  are  either  separate  sentences,  or  integral 
parts  of  English  sentences;  and  they  serve  as  texts  for 
further  comment,  or  act  themselves  as  comments  on  pre- 
ceding texts. 

This  remarkable  book  became  an  inexhaustible  storehouse 
of  supply  for  all  who  sought  to  live  up  to  the  fashion  of  the 
age  without  themselves  being  able  to  display  first-hand 
learning.  Men  of  scanty  education  found  in  Burton's 
Anatomy   "Latin  quotations  to  last  them  all  their  lives.  "'^ 

1  Quoted  by  Middleton,  ed.     Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  I,  8. 

2  Wood,  paraphrased  by  Masson,  I,  414. 

—155- 


''During-  a  pedantic  age,  like  that  in  which  Burton's  pro 
duction  appeared,  it  must  have  been  eminently  serviceable  to 
writers  of  many  descriptions.  Hence  the  unlearned  might 
furnish  themselves  with  appropriate  scraps  of  Greek  and 
Latin,  while  men  of  learning  would  find  their  inquiries  short- 
ened, by  knowing  where  they  might  look  for  what  both 
ancients  and  moderns  have  advanced  on  the  subject  of  human 
passions.  I  confess  my  inability  to  point  out  any  other  Eng- 
lish author  who  has  so  largely  dealt  in  apt  an  original  quota- 
tion.'" 

King  James  I  was  not  one  of  those  who  had  to  depend  on 
the  Anatomy  of  Melancholy  to  retail  him  Latin  sentences  for 
all  occasions.  From  his  own  royal  cultivation  of  the  classics 
he  gathered  golden  fruit  at  will.  His  speech  before  Parlia- 
ment in  January,  1621,  epitomized  in  the  first  two  sentences 
the  two  prevaihng  fashions  of  the  age:  learning  and  religion, 
or  rather,  devotion  to  the  letter  of  the  Classics  and  devotion 
to  the  letter  of  the  Bible.  The  first  sentence  is  nothing  but 
a  Latin  proverb;  the  second  concludes  with  a  verse  from 
Scripture:  "My  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,"  spoke  his 
Majesty,  "and  you  the  Commons: — Cut  Multiloquio  non  deest 
peccatum.-  In  the  last  Parliament  I  made  a  long  discourse, 
especially  to  them  of  the  lower  house:  I  did  open  the  true 
thoughts  of  my  heart;  but  I  may  say  with  my  Saviour,  /  have 
piped  to  you  and  you  have  not  danced;  I  have  mourned  and 
ye  have  not  lamented.''  Without  reading  further  it  is  not 
hard  to  see  that  the  question  of  supplies  is  the  message  about 
to  be  tactfully  delivered.  Pretty  soon  the  speaker  comes 
squarely  upon  his  desire  with  the  words  of  his  beloved  lan- 
guage:    Bis  dat,  qui  cito  dat.^ 

The  King  regarded  Latin-quoting  so  essential  a  part  of 
royal  statecraft,  that  he  sometimes  went  manifestly  out  of 
his  way  to  get  the  needful  sentiment.  In  December,  1621, 
in  answer  to  a  second  petition  sent  him  by  parliament,   he 

1  Quoted  by  Middleton,  ed.  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  I,  14-15. 

-  A  man  of  many  words  is  not  without  sin. 

3  He  gives  twice  who  gives  quickly.     Rushworth  I,  21  ff. 

—156— 


replied:  "We  must  begin  here  in  the  same  fashion  that  we 
would  have  done,  if  the  first  petition  had  come  to  our  hands 
before  we  made  a  stay  thereof,  which  is  to  repeat  the  first 
words  of  the  late  Queen  of  famous  memory,  used  by  her,  in  an 
Answer  to  an  insolent  Proposition  made  by  a  Polonian  Ambas- 
sador unto  her;  that  is,  Legatum  expectabamus,  Heraldum 
accipitniis.'^^  If  we  cannot  honor  the  king  for  political  wis- 
dom, we  must  admire  the  ingenuity  with  which  he  sought  and 
found  a  solid  Latin  basis  for  his  sentence  period. 

The  son  and  heir  of  James  I  inherited  none  of  his  pride 
of  learning  if  one  may  judge  from  the  use  of  Latin  in  the  dis- 
courses of  Charles  L  "When  blessed  King  James,"  it  was 
said  in  1644,  "was  taken  from  us  to  Heaven,  Sol  occiibuit  et 
nox  nulla  secutaestr  Latin-quoting  may  have  been  the  light 
referred  to.  Even  the  English  letters,  speeches,  and  procla- 
mations of  Charles  I  were  short,  and  the  use  of  classical  sen- 
tences and  phrases  is  very  scanty.  But  he  would  have  been 
a  strange  Englishman  of  that  day  had  he  been  absolutely 
innocent  of  classical  quotation.  In  1616,  as  Prince  of  Wales, 
he  went  honorably  attended  to  Oxford,  and  while  there  "was 
pleased  with  his  own  handwriting,  to  matriculate  himself  of 
that  University,  Aug.  28,  with  this  symbol  or  sentence:  Si 
vis  omnia  siibjicere,  siihjice  te  ratione".^  In  addressing  Par- 
liament in  1628,  he  used  one  Latin  phrase  and  the  following 
sentence  to  emphasize  his  demand  for  supplies:  Verbum 
sapienti  satis  esU  During  his  captivity  in  the  hands  of  the 
Parliamentary  army  he  used  to  copy  consolatory  sentences  in 
his  book,  his  favorite  motto  being,  as  was  mentioned  above, 
Dum  spiro,  spero.  His  record,  however,  for  Latin  quotation 
and  learned  habits  in  general  is  not  worthy  of  comparison 
with  that  of  most  of  his  great  contemporaries. 

1  We  were  expecting  a  messenger,  here   is  a  herald.     Rushworth, 
r,  46-7. 

2  The  sun  sank  and  night  came  on.     Rushworth,  VI 1 1,  129. 

*  If  you  wish  to  subdue  all  things,  subdue  yourself  with  reason.  Wal- 
ton's Lives,  1 1,  172-3,  and  footnote.     (Ed.  1817). 

4  A  word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient 

—157— 


Archbishop  Laud  was  much  addicted  to  the  habit  of 
Latin  quoting,  and  was  fond  of  supplying  his  own  immediate 
translation.  In  a  speech  in  Star  Chamber.  June  16,  1637,  at 
censure  of  the  stubborn  Puritans,  John  Bastwick,  Henry  Bur- 
ton, and  William  Prinn,  he  began  by  speaking  of  alleged  inno- 
vations in  the  Church,  and  said:  "I  shall  not  need  to  speak 
of  the  infamous  course  of  libelling  in  any  kind,  .  .  .  nor 
how  patiently  some  great  men,  very  great  men  indeed,  have 
borne  animo  civili  (that's  Suetonius's  word)  laceratam 
existimationem,  the  tearing  and  rending  of  their  Credit  and 
Reputation,  with  a  gentle,  nay,  a  generous  mind."  Seven 
years  later  he  began,  at  his  own  trial,  a  speech  of  defence 
with  a  sentence  from  Seneca,  and  a  copious  translation 
attached:  "My  Lords,  my  being  in  this  place  in  this  condi- 
tion, recalls  to  my  memory  that  which  I  have  long  since 
read  in  Seneca:  Tormentum  est  etiamsi  absolutiis  quis  fuerit, 
causam  dixisse.  'Tis  not  a  grief  only,  no;  'Tis  no  less 
than  a  torment  for  an  ingenuous  man  to  plead  capitally, 
or  criminally,  though  it  should  so  fall  out  that  he  be 
absolved."^  Livy  had  been  the  Roman  author  to  supply  a 
passage  for  another  noble  Englishman  on  trial  for  malfeas- 
ance in  high  office.  Lord  Bacon  in  his  confession  before  the 
House  of  Lords,  implored  their  leniency,  and  gave  as  an 
appeal  the  following  sentiment:  Neque  minus  firmata  est 
Disciplina  militaris  periculo  Quinti  Maximi,  quam  miserahili 
supplicio  Titi  Manlii.^ 

Quotations  sometimes  fell  so  thick  that  the  speaker  had 
difficulty  in  making  his  way  along,  but  the  very  sound  of 
Latin  carried  a  certain  argumentative  force  which  seemed  to 
outweigh  the  confusion  and  discontinuity  of  reasoning.  Sir 
Thomas  Sackville,  speaking  in  Commons  in  1623  on  the  ques- 
tion of  supplies,  said:  "Sure  such  a  dullness  must  needs 
accuse  us  of  much  weakness,  if  it  admit  of  no  worse  con- 
struction {bis  dat,  qui  cito  dat)  freeness  in  giving  graceth  the 

1  Rushworth  V,  776. 

2  Military  discipline  was  as  much  established  by  the  trial  of  Quintus 
Maximus,  as  by  the  severe  punishment  of  Titus  Manlius.  —  Rushworth,  1,30. 

—158- 


gift:  Dimidiiim  facli  qui  bene  coepit  hahet.^  We  have  along 
journey  to  go,  and  to  set  forward  is  half  the  way.  How  press- 
ing the  occasion  is,  my  tongue  faints  to  tell  (vox  faucibus 
haeret):-  The  Foxes  have  holes,  the  Birds  of  the  air  have 
nests,  but  the  daughter  of  our  king  and  kingdom  scarce 
Icnows  where  to  lay  her  head,  or  if  she  do,  not  where  in 
safety."  Sackville  was  arguing  immediate  supplies  for  the 
proposed  war  with  Spain,  but,  if  his  speech  is  correctly 
reported,  he  was  using  the  best  possible  means  to  retard 
legislation. 

The  trained  talent  for  happy  rendering  of  Latin  into 
English  could  easily  be  employed  for  witty  mistranslation,  as 
the  following  story  will  show.  "On  the  9th  of  December 
[1651]  the  Parliament  ordered  a  bill  to  be  brought  in  for  the 
settling  20001.  on  the  wife^  and  children  of  Ireton,  out  of  the 
lands  belonging  to  George  duke  of  Bucks,  and  on  the  17th  of 
the  said  month,  his  carcass  being  landed  at  Bristol,  was  pom- 
pously conveyed  toward  London,  and  lying  in  state  for  a  time 
in  Somerset-house,  all  hung  with  black,  there  was  hung  over 
the  common  gate  an  atchievement  commonly  called  a  hatch- 
ment, with  this  motto  under  his  arms  depicted  thereon  Dulce  et 
decorum  pro  patria  mori,^  which  was  Englished  by  an  honest 
cavalier  thus,  It  is  good  for  his  country  that  he  is  dead."^ 

Latin  was  quoted  most  copiously  in  legal  and  political 
writings  and  speeches.  The  old  laws  of  England  being  in 
Latin,  and  the  works  of  Cicero  and  his  countrymen  containing 
the  highest  known  political  wisdom,  the  lawyer  and  states- 
man had  to  have  their  quivers  full  of  sharp  arrows  of  quota- 
tion. Interesting  examples  of  legal  Latin  are  found  in  the 
great  trials  held  during  the  reign  of  Charles  I:  the  trials  of 
Hampden,  Strafford,  Laud,  and  Charles  himself.  For 
instance,  in  January,  1649,  when  the  King's  trial  was  nearly 
over,  he  desired  of  the  court  that  before  sentence  be  pro- 

1  He  has  half  done  who  has  made  a  good  beginning. 

2  My  voice  sticks  in  my  throat. 

3  The  daughter  of  Oliver  Cromwell.     Ireton  died  in  Ireland. 

4  It  is  sweet  and  comely  to  die  for  one's  fatherland. 

5  Wood,  1 1 1,  300. 

—159— 


nounced  he  might  be  heard  in  the  Painted  Chamber,  before 
the  Lords  and  Commons.  His  motion  was  considered  and  an 
answer  made  that  the  present  court  acted  by  the  highest 
authority  of  the  land,  and  that  they  are  good  words  in  the 
Great  Old  Charter  of  England:  Nulli  negabimus,  nulli  ven- 
demus,  nulli  defer  emus,  Justitiam  vel  Rectum.' ^^ 

The  English  love  of  law  was  manifested  by  ability  not 
only  to  quote  it,  but  also  to  find  quotations  in  its  praise.  Sir 
Dudley  Diggs  in  a  speech  at  a  conference  of  Commons  and 
Lords,  in  1628,  made  a  eulogy  on  England's  ancient  laws, 
and  exclaimed:  "My  good  Lords,  as  the  Poet  said  of  Fame, 
I  may  say  of  our  Common  Law, 

Ingrediturque  solo,  caput  inter  nubila  condit.  "2 

The  commissioners  sent  from  the  Scotch  Parliament  to 
Charles  I  at  Whitehall,  March,  1640,  had  as  spokesman  Lord 
Loudon,  who,  in  his  defense  and  petition  for  Scotland,  gave 
the  king  a  number  of  sharp  legal  reminders,  e.  g:  De  min- 
imis non  curat  Lex,  Salus  populi  est  suprema  lex,  Unusquis- 
que  est  optimum  interpres  sui,  Sublata  causa  tollitur  effectus, 
Accessorium  sequitur  suum  principale.^  Charles's  declara- 
tion in  reply  contained  no  Latin;  if  the  king's  will  was  law, 
what  need  had  he  to  rest  on  any  other  foundation? 

That  Latin-quoting  was  sometimes  more  than  mere  show, 
and  had  vital  meaning  for  speaker  and  hearer,  appears  from 
the  case  of  Sir  John  EUiot.  In  his  speech  in  the  impeach- 
ment of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  he  handled  Latin  freely, 
and  in  one  place  said:  "I  end  this  passage,^  as  Cicero  did  in 
like  case,  Ne  gravioribus  utar  verbis  quam,  rei  natura  fert, 
aut  levioribus  quam  causae  necessitas  postulabat.**^     Further 

1  We  will  deny  to  no  man,  we  will  sell  to  no  man,  we  will  surrender 
to  no  man,  Justice,  or  Right.     Rushworth  VII,  1423. 

2  It  walks  on  earth  but  hides  its  head  in  the  clouds.  Rushworth  I,  528- 

3  Law  takes  no  note  of  particulars.  The  safety  of  the  people  is  the 
supreme  law.  Everyone  is  the  best  interpreter  of  his  own  words. 
Removal  of  the  cause  removes  the  effect  An  accessory  follows  its  princi- 
pal. 

4  A  severe  one. 

5  I  may  not  use  harsher  words  than  the  nature  of  the  case  permits, 
nor  milder  words  than  the  necessity  of  the  case  requires. 

-160— 


on  he  declared  of  the  Duke:  "I  can  hardly  find  him  a  match  in 
all  Presidents;  none  so  like  him  as  Sejanus,  who  is  thus 
described  by  Tacitus,  Audax,  mii  obtegens,  in  alios  crimi- 
nator,  juxta  adulator  et  .'iuperbu.'i/'^  Elliot's  speech  was  the 
epilogue  in  the  impeachment,  and  both  he  and  Sir  Dudley 
Diggs,  who  uttered  the  prologue,  were  committed  to  the 
Tower.  Their  Latin  had  had  effect.  For,  not  long  after, 
Sir  John  was  taken  from  the  Tower,  and  summoned  to  the 
House,  "where  the  Vice-Chamberlain,  Sir  Dudley  Charlton, 
charged  him  for  saying  in  his  speech  that  man,  in  speaking 
of  the  Duke;  which  phrase  in  all  languages  is  accounted  a 
great  indignity  to  persons  of  honour;  that  he  made  scandalous 
comparisons  between  the  Duke  and  Sejanus;  ....  that  he 
brake  off  ambiguously  and  abruptly  with  a  sentence  of  Cicero, 
as  if  something  else  might  be  which  was  not  discovered." 
Latin  was  not  always  mere  cant  and  display,  but  might,  as 
in  this  case,  be  the  most  telling  and  dangerous  part  of  an 
argument  or  invective. - 

1  Daring,  exonerating  himself,  assailing  another,   equally  flattering 
and  haughty. 

2  Rushworth  I.  355-62. 


coNCLusro^r, 

The  main  conclusions  to  which  the  preceding  chapters 
point  may  well  be  summed  up  and  emphasized  in  this  final 
chapter. 

England  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  overgrown  and 
overshadowed  with  the  language  and  ideas  of  ancient  Rome, 
The  ambitious  young  Englishmen  who  every  year  entered 
the  universities-  to  rival  one  another  in  intellectual  exercises 
and  honorable  pursuits  found  classical  learning  the  one  field 
for  their  eager  encounter.  The  high  places  in  church  and. 
state,  the  positions  at  the  right  hand  of  the  king,,  were  to  be 
won  by  learning^  the  learning  which  had  a  more  specific 
meaning  than  it  has  now.  To  read  and  quote  Latin  aptly 
and  copiously,  as  did  the  facetious  Robert  Burton  and  the 
sober  Archbishop  Laud,  was  a  necessary  and  splendid  accom- 
plishment, but  the  greatest  thing  of  all  was  to  have  original, 
first-hand  power  over  the  imperial  language  of  Cicero.  Out 
of  the  honor  and  dignity  which  attached  to  it,  the  ancient 
tongue  gave  rise  to  a  vast  production  of  Latin  literature  in 
the  land  of  Englishmen. 

Latin,  in  a  literal  sense,  was  a  living  and  potent  lan- 
guage. In  the  amount  of  attention  and  training  directly 
received,  it  enjoyed  advantages  infinitely  superior  to  those 
of  the  humble  vernacular.  In  almost  every  department  of 
human  activity,  it  shared  with  English  the  burden  of  com- 
munication, and  in  a  few  special  services  it  alone  was 
acknowledged  to  be  worthy  of  employment.  Its  superior 
virtue  as  an  instrument  of  expression  attracted  the  genius 
of  the  greatest  thinkers  and  philosophers:  and  even  those 
who  stuck  to  their  native  English  adopted  portions  of  the 
Latin  idiom  and  vocabulary  to  reinforce  and  dignify  a  weak, 
unhonored  tongue.     Apart  from  inherent  worth,  the  ancient 

-162- 


language  held  the  exceeding  great  advantage  of  a  wider, 
more  intellectual,  and  more  honorable  audience.  Its  eternal 
vitality  was  supposed  to  impart  life  and  power  to  every 
thing  it  touched. 

English  prose  suffered  in  its  development,  both  from 
close  rivalry  with  Latin  and  from  the  false  belief  that  its 
constitution  and  character,  naturally  defective,  needed  sup- 
port from  the  great  and  time-honored  foreign  idiom.  Instead 
of  cultivating  the  native  genius  of  English  prose  as  English 
poetry  had  been  cultivated,  the  best  writers  of  the  time, 
under  the  influence  of  the  schools,  under  the  pressure  of 
national  custom  and  tradition,  wrote  strange  and  monstrous 
English  sentences,  being  as  proud  to  transplant  the  Latin 
period  in  England  as  Horace  was  to  bring  the  Greek  metres 
into  Rome.  All  the  efforts  of  Milton's  admirers  have  failed 
and  will  forever  fail  to  make  his  prose  permanently  attractive 
to  readers  who  love  the  simplicity  and  straightforwardness 
of  genuine,  idiomatic  English,  If  he  had  fostered  the  native 
qualities  of  prose  as  he  did  of  poetry,  his  controversial 
tracts,  with  all  their  high-minded  wisdom  and  passionate 
logic,  would  excel  Paradise  Lost  in  appeal  to  modern  readers. 

Latin,  by  its  engrossing  claims,  must  bear  also  the  accu- 
sation of  having  debarred  the  minds  of  Englishmen  from 
many  other  worthy  pursuits.  Investigation  in  scientific 
fields  was  shorn  of  its  best  energy  by  the  exactions  of  a 
language  which  boasted  to  be  itself  the  most  deserving 
object  of  attention,  and  which  at  the  very  least  demanded  to 
be  the  voice  of  all  science  and  philosophy.  Inquiry  into  mat- 
ters of  religion,  or  politics,  or  mathematics,  or  natural  phil- 
osophy always  ran  the  risk  of  being  checked  or  utterly  defeated 
by  the  interposition  of  linguistic  controversy.  Two  notable 
instances  of  this  circumstance  we  found  in  the  disputes 
between  Milton  and  Salmasius  on  questions  of  state,  between 
Hobbes  and  Wallis  on  questions  of  mathematics.  Even  quiet, 
philosophical  minds  like  these,  subject  as  they  were  to  formal 
customs  and  traditions,  sometimes  turned  from  the  pursuit 
of  truth,  which  makes  free,  to  quarrels  about  the  letter, 
which  kills. 

—163— 


Intercourse  of  man  with  man,  which  should  on  familiar 
occasions  be  easy  and  cordial,  was  often  clothed  in  the  unnat- 
ural dignity  of  a  stately  foreign  language.  The  oppressive 
reign  of  Latin  over  the  minds  of  young  men  in  the  univer- 
sities, together  with  the  prevailing  severity  of  religious  doc- 
trine, imparted  a  manner  of  thought  and  expression  the  very 
opposite  of  simple  and  charming.  The  correspondence  of 
the  period  furnishes  a  marked  example  of  such  monotonous 
formality.  The  Familiar  Letters  of  Milton,  like  assigned 
exercises  in  the  schools,  unfold  little  or  nothing  of  his  pri- 
vate and  domestic  views;  with  all  their  rhetorical  eloquence 
they  are,  as  private  letters  of  a  great  man  whose  life  we 
would  know,  more  barren  than  his  public  tracts  and  contro- 
versies, more  disappointing  than  any  other  collection  of  let- 
ters called  familiar.  Among  seventeenth  century  English- 
men, of  Milton's  day,  even  when  Latin  was  not  the  language 
of  correspondence  it  was  required  to  furnish  quotations  and 
allusions,  and  to  lend  idiom  and  style  to  grammar  and  sen- 
tence. Almost  the  only  notable  productions  of  the  period 
possessing  literary  ease  and  simplicity  were  the  songs  of  the 
cavalier  poets  and  parts  of  Walton's  Complete  Angler. 

The  door  to  English  literature  and  history  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  is  open  wide  only  to  those  who  are  at  ease  in 
the  presence  of  Latin.  Many  writings  and  events  of  the 
time  may  doubtless  be  understood  and  enjoyed  by  readers 
ignorant  of  the  classics,  but  to  them  the  heart  and  spirit  of 
the  period  as  a  whole  will  hardly  be  revealed.  Poetry,  phil- 
osophy, history,  biography,  controversy,  sermons,  corre- 
spondence, even  conversation, — all  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  age  of  Milton  either  written  in  or  so  touched  with 
Latin  that  one  is  compelled  to  enter  seventeenth  century 
England  by  way  of  Rome  as  Rome  must  be  entered  by  way 
of  Athens. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

(The  following  list  contains  the  works  referred  to  in  the  text  and 
foot-notes.) 

Arber,  Edward.  A  Transcript  of  the  Registers  of  the  Company  of 
Stationers  of  London.     5  Vols.     London:  1875. 

Bacon,  Francis.  Works.  Ed.  by  Spedding,  Ellis,  and  Heath.  7 
Vols.     London:  1857-9. 

Baillie,  Robert.  Letters  and  Journals.  Ed.  by  David  Lang,  Esq. 
3  Vols.     Edinburgh:    1841. 

Bowes,  Robert.  A  Catalogue  of  Books  Printed  at  or  Relating  to  the 
University  Town  and  County  of  Cambridge,  from  1521  to  1893,  with  Bib- 
liographical and  Biographical  Notes.     Cambridge:  1894. 

Burton,  Robert.  Anatomy  of  Melancholy.  Pub.  by  W.  J.  Middle- 
ton.     3  Vols.     New  York:  1871. 

Clarendon.     History  of  the  Great  Rebellion. 

Cooper,  Charles  Henry.  Annals  of  Cambridge.  5  Vols.  Cam- 
bridge: 1842-62. 

Cox,  Robert  The  Literature  of  the  Sabbath  Question*  2  Vols. 
Edinburgh:  1865. 

Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

Disraeli,  Isaac.  The  Calamities  and  Quarrels  of  Authors.  Lon- 
don: 1859. 

Drax,  Thos.     Calliopeia,  or  a  Rich  Store-House  of  Elegant  Latin  Words 
and  Phrases,  etc.     Dublin:  1612. 

Earle,  John.     English  Prose.     New  York:  1891. 

Emerson,  0.  W.  History  of  the  English  Language.  New  York: 
1907. 

Encyclopedia  Britannica,  XI  Edition. 

Evelyn,  John.     Diary. 

Fuller,  Thos.  The  Church  History  of  Britain.  Ed.  by  Rev.  J.  S. 
Brewer.     6  Vols.     Oxford,  University  Press:  1845. 

Fuller,  Thos.  History  of  the  University  of  Cambridge.  Ed.  by 
James  Nichols.     London:    1840. 

Fuller,  Thos.  The  Church  History  of  Britain.  Ed.  by  James  Nich- 
ols.    3  Vols.     London:  1868. 

Fuller,  Thos.  History  of  the  Worthies  of  England.  Ed.  by  P. 
Austin  Nuttall.     3  Vols.     London:  1868. 

Fuller,  Thomas.     Ephemeris  Parliamentaria.     London:  1654. 

Heywood,  James.  Cambridge  University  Transactions,  during  Puri- 
tan Controversies  of  16th  and  17th  Centuries.     Collected  by  James  Hey- 


wood  and  Thomas  Wright.  2  Vols.  Pub.  by  Henry  G.  Bohn.  London: 
1854. 

Hobbes,  Thomas.     Leviathan.     London:  George  Routledge  &   Sons. 

Hobbes,  Thomas.  English  Works.  Ed.  by  Sir  William  Molesworth. 
London:  1840. 

Jahrbuch  der  Deutschen  Shakespeare-Gesellshaft.  Vierunddreissig- 
ster  Jahrgang.     Weimar:  1898. 

Johnston,  William.  The  Bibliography  and  Portraits  of  Arthur  Johns- 
ton.   University  Press,  Aberdeen:  1896. 

Laudian  Code  of  Oxford  Statutes.  Ed.  by  John  Griffiths.  Clarendon 
Press,  Oxford:  1888. 

Lyte,  H.  C.   Maxwell.     A  History  of  Eton  College.     London:  1875. 

Mark,  H.  T.  Educational  Theories  in  England.  Syracuse,  N.  Y. : 
1899. 

Marston,  R.  B.  Walton  and  Some  Earlier  Writers  on  Fish  and  Fish- 
ing.    London:     1894. 

Masson,  David.     Life  and  Times  of  John  Milton.     6  Vols. 

Milton,  John.  Of  Education,  Areopagitica,  and  the  Commonwealth, 
Ed.  by  Laura  E.  Lockwood.     Boston:    1911. 

Milton,  John.  Prose  Works.  Ed.  by  J.  A.  St.  John.  (Bohn's  Li- 
braries).    5  Vols. 

Milton,  John.  Poetical  Works.  Ed.  by  David  Masson.  3  Vols. 
New  York:    1890. 

Monroe,  Paul.  A  Text-Book  in  the  History  of  Education.  New 
York:  1907. 

Park,  Thomas.  Harleian  Miscellany.  Ed.  by  Thomas  Park.  10 
Vols.     London:  1813. 

Pettigrew,  Thomas  Joseph.  Chronicles  of  the  Tombs.    London:    1864. 

Robertson,  George  Croom.     Hobbes.     Edinburgh  and  London:  1905. 

Rushworth,  John.     Historical  Collections.     8  Vols.     London:  1721. 

Ryves,  Bruno.  Mercurius  Rusticus.  (Containing  also  John  Bar- 
wick's  Querela  Cantabrigiensis.)     Oxford:  1646. 

Walton,  Izaak.     Lives.     Ed.  by  Thomas  Zouch.    2  Vols.    York:  1817. 

Walton's  Lives.     George  P.  Putnam.    New  York:  1852. 

Ward,  A.  W.  A  History  of  the  English  Dramatic  Literature  to  the 
Death  of  Queen  Anne.     3  Vols.     1899. 

Willis,  R.,  M.  D.     William  Harvey.     London:  1878. 

Wright,  Thomas.     (See  Hey  wood.) 

Wood,  Anthony  A.  Athenae  Oxonienses.  Ed.  by  Philip  Bliss.  5 
Vols.     London:  1813. 

Wood,  Anthony  A.  Fasti  Oxiensis.  Ed.  by  Philip  Bliss.  (Published 
as  Vol.  V  of  Athenae  Oxonienses). 

Wotton,  Sir  Henry.  Letters  and  Dispatches  of  Sir  Henry  Wotton 
to   James   I    and    his  ministers,    MDCXVII-XX.     London:  1860. 

Wotton,  Sir  Henry.  Life  and  Letters.  By  Logan  Pearsall  Smith. 
2  Vols.     Clarenden  Press,  Oxford:  1907. 

Wotton,  Sir  Henry.     Reliquiae  Wottonianae.     London:  1651. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW        ^ 

AN  INITIAL  fTn^  qp  25  CENTS 

W.UL  INCREASE  TO^St.  °''^-  "^"^  PENALTY 
OAY  AND  TO  J  oo  "  J^  °^  ^HE  FOURTH 
OVERDUE.  °''    ^"^    SEVENTH     DAY 


.WC/R,     ffB207J 


Ll)  21-20 


'"■5, '39  (9269s) 


,U   C    BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 

ll|l|lll|ll||ll|ll|ll  fill  I  iliilliiili  III 


iiiNliiii|iii|ii||ii|{i|[|  |n|  I  lllllllllll  III! 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


?•• 


